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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Kids
- Theme: Survival / Success
- Subject: Friends / Friendship
- Published: 12/17/2015
Life after a tsunami
Born 1982, M, from Rafha, Saudi ArabiaSomewhere in the backstreets of the island of Java in Indonesia, there lived two friends next to each other, Raja and Wira. They lived and played together since their childhood but there was a world of difference between them. Raja was never happy and always dreamed of being rich while Wira on the other hand, was the exact opposite and was always happy with the little that he had.
As they grew up, Wira worked in his own mobile phone store where he spent his time selling and fixing mobile phones and much of his free time volunteering and helping others. Raja however now had an office job, allowing him to live a fairly comfortable life but distanced himself from others in the backstreets. He could never understand what kept Wira so happy and content despite the little he had. To his surprise, Wira even gave him a new mobile phone as a gift and said to Raja “use it to call me when you become a rich millionaire and travel around the world!” This however did not happen.
8 years had passed and Wira had not heard from Raja or receive a phone call from him. All he heard about Raja came from the local news as to how he was now the most successful real estate dealer in the country and was in fact travelling around the world, trying to make new business deals – all this while Wira was still managing his small mobile phone store and continuing with his voluntary activities.
All of this changed one day with the blink of an eye. That was the day that the tsunami had struck.
Words cannot express the pain that filled Raja’s heart as he saw all his mega real estate projects and home being washed away into the ocean before his very eyes. All that remained of his once large mansion was now rubble. All he could do was sit in the rubble with his face in his palms and weep until his tears dried and his heart ached. He was all alone with no food, water, money… nothing. Everything he had ever worked for had just been lost and Raja was so overwhelmed by the tragedy that he almost felt like taking his own life. That was when he suddenly heard a phone ring nearby. It was coming from the rubble and was flashing. It was the phone that Wira had given him and Raja hesitantly answered it. To Raja’s astonishment, Wira was calling and was asking whether he was safe following the tsunami. He personally came to find Raja and took him back to his store, which had been badly damaged but was surrounded by many people trying desperately to help each other and use the remains of his store as a shelter. There, Wira sat Raja down on the floor.
“Are you alright? You look hungry” Wira asked as he knelt down and placed his hand on Raja’s shoulder with a look of concern on his face. Raja stared back at him and nodded.
“Here, take this!” Wira said as he pulled half a loaf of bread and a small water bottle out of his pocket, which was the only food he had for himself but he gave to Raja. Raja took it hesitantly and cried as he remembered how he stayed at a five star hotel the other day and made a harsh complaint against the manager as he had to wait 5 minutes for his order. Now he was overjoyed at the sight of simple bread and water. Later Wira almost collapsed as he sat on the rubble just in front of Raja and let out a deep sigh, as he spent the whole day trying to help others. Raja could not help but ask a burning question.
“Why are you doing this?” Raja asked finally.
“What do you mean?”
“Your shop’s badly damaged, you gave me and everyone else all the food and water that you had, I haven’t spoken to you in years but you’re still helping me! Aren’t you sad about what happened?”
“Of course I’m sad, but life goes on!”
“But you’ve lost EVERYTHING!” Raja said in desperation as Wira shook his head, thinking of what to say.
“Raja…come with me a moment!” Wira said surprisingly as he took Raja to the remains of a well known cemetery nearby and stopped at two graves.
“Look at these and tell me: which one’s rich and which one is poor?” Raja looked at the two graves blankly then looked back at Wira.
“In all honestly, I have absolutely no idea! They look the same!”
“Exactly! You see, what makes someone rich is not how much money they have but what good they do. We should always be thankful for what we have because we can become rich or poor in a split second but regardless of what happens, there’ll always be someone who’s been through worse. Have faith –things will work out!”
Wira was right; things really did work out for Raja, who with the help of Wira restarted his business and was more successful than before. This time however, he did not forget those who were close to him, especially Wira, who he helped to rebuild his store and expand it. Together they gave charity and helped others as best as they could.
The End
Other works by the author: Ancient Mediterranean Merchant, Al Burtuqali School, A guide to teaching English in Saudi Arabia (1: Al Baha and 2: Riyadh) and Traveling KSA: A rare glimpse into the Kingdom
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Mahir-Gazdar/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3AMahir%20Gazdar
For updates on the author’s books and writings, please “Like” the Facebook page, Mahir Gazdar’s Books:
https://www.facebook.com/Mahir-Gazdars-books-1420987678134094/
Life after a tsunami(Mahir Gazdar)
Somewhere in the backstreets of the island of Java in Indonesia, there lived two friends next to each other, Raja and Wira. They lived and played together since their childhood but there was a world of difference between them. Raja was never happy and always dreamed of being rich while Wira on the other hand, was the exact opposite and was always happy with the little that he had.
As they grew up, Wira worked in his own mobile phone store where he spent his time selling and fixing mobile phones and much of his free time volunteering and helping others. Raja however now had an office job, allowing him to live a fairly comfortable life but distanced himself from others in the backstreets. He could never understand what kept Wira so happy and content despite the little he had. To his surprise, Wira even gave him a new mobile phone as a gift and said to Raja “use it to call me when you become a rich millionaire and travel around the world!” This however did not happen.
8 years had passed and Wira had not heard from Raja or receive a phone call from him. All he heard about Raja came from the local news as to how he was now the most successful real estate dealer in the country and was in fact travelling around the world, trying to make new business deals – all this while Wira was still managing his small mobile phone store and continuing with his voluntary activities.
All of this changed one day with the blink of an eye. That was the day that the tsunami had struck.
Words cannot express the pain that filled Raja’s heart as he saw all his mega real estate projects and home being washed away into the ocean before his very eyes. All that remained of his once large mansion was now rubble. All he could do was sit in the rubble with his face in his palms and weep until his tears dried and his heart ached. He was all alone with no food, water, money… nothing. Everything he had ever worked for had just been lost and Raja was so overwhelmed by the tragedy that he almost felt like taking his own life. That was when he suddenly heard a phone ring nearby. It was coming from the rubble and was flashing. It was the phone that Wira had given him and Raja hesitantly answered it. To Raja’s astonishment, Wira was calling and was asking whether he was safe following the tsunami. He personally came to find Raja and took him back to his store, which had been badly damaged but was surrounded by many people trying desperately to help each other and use the remains of his store as a shelter. There, Wira sat Raja down on the floor.
“Are you alright? You look hungry” Wira asked as he knelt down and placed his hand on Raja’s shoulder with a look of concern on his face. Raja stared back at him and nodded.
“Here, take this!” Wira said as he pulled half a loaf of bread and a small water bottle out of his pocket, which was the only food he had for himself but he gave to Raja. Raja took it hesitantly and cried as he remembered how he stayed at a five star hotel the other day and made a harsh complaint against the manager as he had to wait 5 minutes for his order. Now he was overjoyed at the sight of simple bread and water. Later Wira almost collapsed as he sat on the rubble just in front of Raja and let out a deep sigh, as he spent the whole day trying to help others. Raja could not help but ask a burning question.
“Why are you doing this?” Raja asked finally.
“What do you mean?”
“Your shop’s badly damaged, you gave me and everyone else all the food and water that you had, I haven’t spoken to you in years but you’re still helping me! Aren’t you sad about what happened?”
“Of course I’m sad, but life goes on!”
“But you’ve lost EVERYTHING!” Raja said in desperation as Wira shook his head, thinking of what to say.
“Raja…come with me a moment!” Wira said surprisingly as he took Raja to the remains of a well known cemetery nearby and stopped at two graves.
“Look at these and tell me: which one’s rich and which one is poor?” Raja looked at the two graves blankly then looked back at Wira.
“In all honestly, I have absolutely no idea! They look the same!”
“Exactly! You see, what makes someone rich is not how much money they have but what good they do. We should always be thankful for what we have because we can become rich or poor in a split second but regardless of what happens, there’ll always be someone who’s been through worse. Have faith –things will work out!”
Wira was right; things really did work out for Raja, who with the help of Wira restarted his business and was more successful than before. This time however, he did not forget those who were close to him, especially Wira, who he helped to rebuild his store and expand it. Together they gave charity and helped others as best as they could.
The End
Other works by the author: Ancient Mediterranean Merchant, Al Burtuqali School, A guide to teaching English in Saudi Arabia (1: Al Baha and 2: Riyadh) and Traveling KSA: A rare glimpse into the Kingdom
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Mahir-Gazdar/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3AMahir%20Gazdar
For updates on the author’s books and writings, please “Like” the Facebook page, Mahir Gazdar’s Books:
https://www.facebook.com/Mahir-Gazdars-books-1420987678134094/
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