Keep the World Ablaze ...

My Jewish client was dynamic and had an inclination towards verbal diarrhoea. He was also entertaining, knowledgeable and engaging. People say that when a Jew meets a Chinese, he meets his match! Somehow he reminds me of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, and while talking to him, I thought of Portia. Perhaps I reminded my Jewish client of Portia, for he commented that I talked like a lawyer!! Not bad eh, for a humble property agent. Hence, our conversation carried on till 40 minutes until I realised I had to rush home to watch my favourite TV program, "Jewel in the Palace".

To my dismay, I found that it was pouring quite heavily when I came out of the MRT station at Braddel. I was already late by 15 minutes, and did not want the rain to deter me from reaching home to watch my TV serial. Hence, I decided to brave the rain and ran back. Just as I was running, I heard someone honking and a black station wagon pulled up beside me. I peered into the window and saw a Punjabi couple. The lady smiled and whipped out an umbrella for me.!

I was momentarialy surprised and thanked them in Hindi, "Shukria, dhanyanbad."
The couple smiled and I put on my glasses quickly as they drove off and I saw that their number plate was 709U although I could not see the first 3 alphabets.

Suddenly, I felt warm even though it was quite cold with the pouring rain! When I reached home, I saw that it was a beautiful, almost brand new red umbrella with the logo of OCBC (Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation) and a printed picture of a Visa Gold Card.

I guess it will be quite impossible for me to return the umbrella to the couple.
In the meanwhile, I will pass on the umbrella to someone in need when the opportunity arises. Suddenly, I remember my favourite song, "It only takes a spark, to get a fire burning......you want to pass it on."

Yes, let us all help to light the candle for the person next to us. Let us help to keep the world ablaze with thoughtfulness, love, compassion, charity and selflessness. Always remember that when we give an umbrella to someone in need, God will provide us with a bigger umbrella on our rainy days.

Gan Chau