Poignancy of the Written Word

The landlord of the premises where I used to run my restaurant was a tough, less refined looking elderly man. If any of his tenants were to be tardy in their payment of rental, he would seek them out and bark in the loudest of voice for his rental. It did not bother him whether any of the customers were within earshot or his tenants would feel embarrassed.

Hence I was surprised my landlord would take so oo oooo long to refund me my deposit! I always thought that people would not do unto others what they don't like others to do unto them. After two weeks when there was no sign of return, I wrote him a letter. My Xiao Bai was a Chow Chow that hardly barked; likewise he has an owner who also hardly, if ever, barks at anyone. I wrote my landlord another letter... still no response. Finally I decided to sms him with the following words, "Dear Mr. Landlord, when are you returning me my deposit? You are
a millionaire; I am a $0-aire! The Landlord gave me the deposit a few days after the sms!

Many years ago, mama asked me to write to eldest brother to send her extra money because
she wanted to celebrate her birthday. It was not easy for me to write because eldest brother
was a very, very busy man. Every month he would remit some cash to mama for her pocket money as expected of most children in Asian families. Hence I wrote: "Dearest brother, Mama is going to celebrate her birthday......once in half a century... her very first celebration!" What a wonderful surprise when we received brother's gift for mama very soon after this letter.

Oh! The power and poignancy of the written word!

Gan Chau