When Neighbors Become Lifesavers

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Welcome to my blog, dear readers.

Today's topic is about unexpected places and people.

In life, we must understand that it is full of surprises and unforeseen situations. On this occasion, I am going to talk about a time when I received an act of generosity from someone I never expected it from.

I am talking about my neighbor, Mrs. Carmen, an 82-year-old lady who has a son who is in his forties, almost fifty years old, and who is autistic.

This lady is a person of Spanish descent, very calm, quite elderly, who suffers from nervousness and likes to live peacefully in her home.

She lives one meter away from where I live; that is to say, her apartment is just one meter away from the door of my apartment.

I have known her for many years, and my policy has always been that of a good neighbor: good morning, good evening, and if the neighbor needs a little salt or a cup of sugar, I give it to them, and that's it.

I always try to keep relationships that way, to maintain some distance because I value and respect my privacy a lot.

I don't like people in this building or the surroundings invading my personal space because people like to talk a lot, and in this place where I live, there are many gossiping people.

So I always try to avoid that.

But one day, when my neighbor greeted me, wished me a good morning, and asked how I was, I said: "Well, I'm struggling because my money isn't enough to buy food, I don't have much to eat, and I'm having a hard time because the situation is very difficult, and I have many debts right now. I can't afford enough food, can't buy meat or fruit which I need to eat."

The neighbor, with a very kind gesture, said: "Don't worry, I receive some food from the government through CLAP.

Do you not get it?" I replied: "No, I don't receive any benefit besides what I buy with my work." She very kindly gave me several packages of grains, a can of sardines, a jar of mayonnaise, spaghetti, tomato sauce, and corn flour to make my arepas.

This was a gesture of collaboration and help that I did not expect.

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Unfortunately, since we had the fire in the building over a year ago, it was a very traumatic experience for her.

I remember that I helped her and her son get out of the fire, saved their lives because they didn't want to leave the apartment. I bravely grabbed them and helped them down from the building.

That was an experience, an act of good faith she had towards me, and I will never forget it.

Now, she is in a nursing home. I haven't heard from her for a long time, and her apartment is empty. I don't know what will happen with it, I suppose it will be sold.

I also want to tell you about another experience where I was treated very badly by someone I thought was a good person.

I am talking about a man named Rafael Ramos.

This man is from Peru and was my boss.

This happened many years ago, perhaps 20 years or more. I was working for him in the IT department, making websites.

I had to make a website for a person who had a hardware store in a very distant area from where I live.

To get there, I had to travel approximately 90 minutes, which was a long and tedious journey. I had to work there, and the client wanted me to stay until late, but I couldn't because it was too far and I couldn't return home late at night.

The client didn't understand that; he only cared about getting the job done.

Rafael asked me to do a job on the website.

I finished and delivered the work to the client.

That day, the client started changing things on the website himself, without asking me and without knowing how to do it, and he ruined all my work.

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He called my boss Rafael, telling him I had done a bad job, which wasn't true.

I had done my job correctly. Rafael asked me to redo the job, and I told him I would, but he had to pay me because I had already done the job. He said I had to do it for free.

I had to pay for my transport to get there and do the job that someone else had ruined.

He made me have a hard time, and he fired me. I told him, "Look, I don't want to work with you anymore because this is simply abuse.

You should have made the client understand that he shouldn't have touched the website and ruined my work but asked before doing anything."

Those were the two experiences I lived through.

My relationship with Rafael ended.

To this day, I have encountered him several times, and he still tells me that I owe him that job.

This bad person is so mean that he still thinks I owe him the job after so many years.

Regarding my neighbor, I hold her in high esteem and remember her fondly.

Her gesture made me feel closer to her, more empathetic towards her situation.

This experience positively affected my relationship with her, while the experience with Rafael negatively affected my relationship with him.

These things happen in life, and that's why it's always important to be a good person and act correctly because life brings surprises, and you never know when you will need help from someone unexpected.