22 October 2011

What Pakcik received (Pt 2) - The Brick


How often do we sit back, look around and give some thought to what appears to us too insignificant to waste our few seconds ? Pakcik received the following “BRICK” from a friend. It made me stop to think.

The Brick!!!
PLEASE

Read It.


Read this today and
don't delete it
even if
you are too busy!! You'll
see..


THE
BRICK



A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked
cars and slowed down
when he thought he saw
something.



As his car passed, no children appeared.
Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door!
He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to
the spot where the brick had been thrown.



The angry driver then jumped out of the
car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up
against
a parked car shouting,



'What was that all about and who are you? Just what
the heck are you doing? That's a new car and that
brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money.. Why
did you do it?' The young boy was apologetic.

'Please, mister....please, I'm sorry but I didn't
know what else to do,' He pleaded. 'I threw the
brick because no one else would stop...' With tears
dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth
pointed to a spot just around a parked car. 'It's my
brother, 'he said 'He rolled off the curb and fell
out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him
up.'



Now sobbing, the boy
asked the stunned executive, 'Would you please help
me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and
he's too heavy for me.'




Moved beyond words,
the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling
lump in his throat.. He hurriedly lifted the
handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took
out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh
scrapes and cuts.. A quick look told him everything
was going to be okay.

'Thank you and may God bless
you,' the grateful child told the stranger.

Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy
push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk
toward their home..




It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair
the dented side door. He kept the dent there to
remind him of this message:

'Don't go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!'

We should not need a brick being thrown at us to stop and think: “ Can I be of help?”


Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan.

26 comments:

kaykuala said...

Dear Pak Cik,
Most moving and a poignant lesson to us.It is often said we have to be cruel to be kind. In a fast paced environment, of times like this we get some, getting on too fast a pace that they are blind to the 'now' or they get in the way of others. It can be prompted by survival, ego or just ignorance. Some might 'kill' others in the process without batting an eye-lid.On the positive side there are countless unsung heroes who on their own efforts and resources do good without the fanfare or wanted it be known to others. We salute them.
Thanks for sharing!

Hank

Ismail aka Pak Mail said...

Salaam Pakcik,

“ Can I be of help?”

Saya teringat satu pesanan Rasulullah saw supaya kita menjadi manusia yang banyak memberi manfaat kepada orang lain.

Hatta, kalau kita mempunyai kenderaan yang bagus juga boleh dimanfaatkan untuk orang lain.

ahmad humairi said...

Assalamualaikum Pakcik Almanar,

Terima kasih kerana sudi berkunjung ke Laman saya.

Bila kita dah faham,
perasaan marah pasti dikalahkan.

ninotaziz said...

A solid brick
A falling tear
Does the trick
So tender

To remind us we are human...

Al-Manar said...

Hank,

We have to be cruel to be kind. I have not heard this expression for some time. Strange enough when you mentioned this I began to think of this as a good excuse for the harshness I employed on my pupils - a variety of strong words which hurt and sometimes made them cry. Was it 'lepas geram' or trying to be kind? I wonder, Hank. Have I found an excuse for my ill temper?

Al-Manar said...

PakMail,

Betul PakMail. Kalau hendak buat baik banyak sungguh caranya. Persoalannya cuma hendak atau tidak. It is a question of 'balance' - 'keseimbangan' yang di kehendaki dalam Islam. Orang tua tua kita amat faham hingga keluarlah 'buat baik berpada pada. Buat jahak jangan sekali' - bukan buat jahat berpada pada!

Al-Manar said...

Ahmad Humairi,

Saya banyak melayari blog blog yang dipunyai oleh kalangan guru yang berpengalaman, Cikgu umpamanya. Saya ingin mendengar buah fikiran yang bernas, biar pun berat saya hendak menerima. Sayangnya kita lebih memberi pujian yang berlebihan - yang pahit jangan sekali. Kita lupa yang pahit itu lah ubat. Harapnya Cikgu tidak keberatan memberi pandangan untuk menjadi perbualan dan renumgan.

Al-Manar said...

Ninot,

A solid brick
A falling tear
Does the trick
So tender

Setitik air mata
Jatuh kebata
Lenyap kering
Jangan semata mata
Mengatur kata
Tunjukkan taring

You have inspired me to show my worst.

Unknown said...

Pak Cik, thank you for sharing. Yes, at any quick phases in life, we have to stop to think, pause to reflect - the purpose of us being in this world. To think about other beings, and not being selfish. Once again, thank you for sharing. Learnt a tremendous lessons in life through your blog - thank you. Allah bless you always.

Wan Sharif said...

Wah ..
udah lah ceghita nya bagus..
pandai pulak mengkome berpuisi..
cemburu bebeno teman
nengok kamu berdua

If that was your worst..
What about me
who have no clue..
how to response to ninot's poem. :)

Al-Manar said...

Linda,

Yes spare some time to stop and think. It is inspiring to hear comments like yours, Linda.

Thank you and all the best to you and family, too.

Al-Manar said...

Ayah Wang,

Jangan cemburu. Dia tu pandai. Ikut saja rentaknya, macang kite jjoget la.

Ada terima mail abang Hassan hantar?

ninotaziz said...

Dear Pakcik, you are hereby invited to www.ninotazizpurplemusings.blogspot.com
Quite urgently. There is a discourse waiting and a new pemantun with Ulek Mayang in his soul reborn.

Cheqna said...

Assalamualaikum Pak Cik,

reading postings like this is just like a "brick" thrown at my path.

Tq.

Al-Manar said...

Ninot

I lose track with your many sites. Had I seen you posting on your bik I would have left comments. We have one like her going for fifteen years.

Al-Manar said...

Cheqna

I feel like throwing one at your car to stop it in front of our home! So watch it!

abdulhalimshah said...

Dear Pak Cik,
A common brick is all it takes to bring out the humble self of the human being who hardly have time for others. Many thanks for the story.

Kama At-Tarawis said...

i have had a brick or two thrown at me over the years. chances are, had it not been for those bricks hurled by God knows who, i would still be wandering on the high road to hell..

Al-Manar said...

AHS,

Akhi, it is just a simple story that has many facets. I would like to toss a small one to you to start updating your blog!

Salaam to you and family.

Al-Manar said...

Kama,

I doubt there is anyone who does not not get hurled at during his/her life time. But there are persons who do not take kindly to a brick treatment. Some get one for trying to pinch a mango from a neighbour's garden.

KotaStar said...

Saudara Al Manar,

Thanks for yr comment in my earlier story of our visit to Brunei.Sorry I should have asked you to join too. Then you would meet people whom you knew.I will post some pix of Seria too taken 50 yrs ago , The Club and the town itself. Masih ada dlm simpanan. Picking your brick story as a teacher to an engineering'guru we may set extra works for our students; find out more implicating 'brick' - then we discover " He is a real brick, taking care of me when I am down'; don't bang your head against the brick wall'which then is a good advice to the Jaguar driver. At the same time people in the neighborhood who saw him may not stop giving brickbats.Alas especially at Al Manar I am sure you are making bricks without straw too.Sorry la, at this hour of the night I have to type something different .Thanks for the delightful and meaningful story. Salam

kaykuala said...

Dear Pak Cik,
An excuse for an ill temper? Your 'nice' side working on you now as an afterthought.

I tried to respond earlier but then I asked myself whether I can make a text book response and whether it is any different from what/how others might respond.

T thought,no. May be I'll respond the way that I had experienced 'at the receiving end'. Meaning, I'll respond from the point of view of the pupils not the teacher. Here goes! Simple but here goes!.

This was what happened when I got on the wrong side of my late Mom (this was for a serious one where a talking to, wasn't enough)

She smacked me hard a couple of times with a rotan at my legs and then left me alone. I then ran to the back of the house and cried it out. In my head I had thoughts of running away from home, and things like that (I'm a sensitive guy,you see)

After about 20 mins after realising how silly it was to cry anymore,I came back into the house.

My late Mom came to me and asked to show where the welts on my skin were and she rubbed them. She was different from when she had the rotan in her hands. She didn't mention anything about my wrong or to kept harping on it. She showed her caring self and hugged me (I'm shedding a tear now relating this just thinking about my late Mom )

I felt good and I took it upon myself to get on her right side after that (this happened somewhere around aged 10)

I really don't know how this can be of help or however way you would read into it. As I have said it is just from the point of view of the one at the receiving end.

If it can be of help, I'm glad otherwise just disregard it.

Hank

Anonymous said...

sometimes we have to be harsh and throw bricks instead of giving candies..thanks for posting this pakcik..was driving in a fast lane..

Al-Manar said...

KotaStar

Thank you for the kind thought you had on the trip to Brunei. I would not be able to make it.

Of course if you work till three in the morning you will see things from a different angle, often clearer and better. Thank you. In fact I was up till two myself. Old folks need little sleep!

Al-Manar said...

Akhi Hank,

You quoted what I have been doing to my Almnar pupils. I often pick on the bad apples, giving then a real telling off, often embarrassing them in front of others. Then I would pull them aside and show the gentle side of me, with apologies and all. Under certain circumstances I find it effective to make an apology in front of the class. In that way I teach them to learn to apologise when the need arises. Your late Mom knew her psychology to make you feel the way you did. Alfatihah to her.

Akhi, thank you for relating that personal experience.

Al-Manar said...

tuanzamani,

I am certain psychology was one of the important subject for you at he university. A doctor needs all the soft touch techniques to handle unpredictable patients.