Life is a beautiful place filled with wonderful people who you'll meet and who will go on to impact your life in ways you never expect. In fact, some will go to different lengths to make sure you're in good condition, and this is something I find fascinating about this set of people because sometimes it could even be a total stranger who's doing all that or someone you least expect such from, while on the other hand, we also have people who are the total opposite of the first set of people I described above, and despite how you put them in high esteem, they just find a way to cut short your expectations. I've, in this my short life, had numerous experiences with both sets of people, and in this article I'll be telling you about some of these encounters.
To start with, talking about people who have had a great impact on my life, I've got a whole list of them, and to this day some of these kind treatments and gestures are still a mystery to me because I still can't fathom how I deserve it or why I got such from those set of people, especially those who came from people who, prior to our encounters, were together strangers to each other, and some of those are as stated below.
One of the most notable of them all was when I received an unexpected kindness from a total stranger during my first year at the university. I remember I was talking about having difficulty securing a place to stay during my first year in school and having to sleep outside for some time. Well, this lady from nowhere, whom I didn't know from Adam, walked up to me, inquired about what's going on and why I'm where I am, and after telling her my story, she went on to not only give me shelter for that night but also for the following two years that followed. It's like a fantasy to think that a lady who doesn't know you from anywhere will give a guy shelter, but then it happened, and I'm a living testament to that, and she's someone I referred to as the lady with a heart of gold.
I also won't forget how another act of kindness from a total stranger saved me from the trap of death that was looping around me. I once wrote about how my quest for exploring new places made me defy the order of my LGI during my NYSC days to go explore some part of Yobe State during the reign of Boko Haram terrorists. On my way to where I was going to explore, our vehicle was stopped by the terrorists, who were looking for strangers to take as hostages, and there and then, a total stranger whose child I was playing with during our journey defended me when I was being interrogated by the terrorists by saying I'm the son of his brother who stays in Lagos, and that's why I couldn't speak their language fluently.
It was a close call, and I still don't understand why that man showed me such kindness to this day, because I didn't know him from anywhere, and I must confess my life flashed before my eyes when I saw how the terrorist killed other strangers who tried to run away during the interrogation process. I've got several undeserving acts of kindness shown towards me, but I'll stop here for today, so let's delve into the other set of people.
Talking about being treated poorly by someone I held in high regard or thought was nice, I've also had many experiences of that, and trust me, it can be really painful when someone you put in such a position treats you poorly; it leaves an aura of disappointment that goes on to haunt you as you reminisce about it, and one of such people is my aunt, a junior sister to my dad.
Prior to getting to know her better, I used to think she was a good person who was nice and accommodating, probably because of how she carried herself and spoke about the things she did to people around her, and those recounts I heard from her pushed me to one day say I wanted to go and spend the holiday period with her during my secondary school days; believe me, it was quite the opposite of what I expected when I got to her place.
Upon arriving there, I was expecting to be treated like the way she usually says she does towards others, not that I don't want to help out when I got there, sit out like I'm a king, but then rather than treat me well, this woman will literally give me every single house chore to do as though I'm a slave, or how help, I'm talking about doing every single task within the house, including washing clothes of everywhere, including her daughter, who's the same age as me.
It was quite annoying, and I felt bad about how I was treated or made to do everything when I'm a visitor in their house and be treated like a guest, but ended up being treated like a slave, who washes, cooks, cleans, and does everything, while others sit and give commands on what I should do. I was pained by this treatment, and by the time my holiday was over, I was the happiest person alive when leaving.
Since that very day, I've always looked for excuses to not visit her; even when she encourages me to come and the like, I don't think I deserve how I was treated, and neither does anyone. A guest is supposed to be treated well or at least like you treat other people in your household, not like they're your servants.
So that's about it on my story on being shown kindness from people I least expected and being treated poorly by people I held in high regard; overall, that's human for you: everyone is different and unique in their own ways.
All photos are mine.