Salt of the Earth

Every time when I lose faith on humanity, something magical would happen to change my opinion again.

I went to the Tuesday fair this morning looking for some "Murunga" leaves to make a medicinal preparation.

Asked a few manning stalls with no success and finally the lady usually selling Waraka (Ripened jackfruit) at the end of the fair directed me to someone selling some other fruits at the very end on a makeshift stall.

I approached him cautiously as he was preparing his own stall and ask where if I could find some Murunga leaves.

He was still busy arranging the stall but asked me as to why I was looking it.

“To prepare some medicinal external application”, I blurted out without having not much of hope.

He immediately stopped his work and said, “Yes, I have a tree behind my house” and started heading towards his house abandoning his half arranged fruit stall.

I started following him not knowing exactly where he was heading.

Five minutes later, he arrived at a dilapidated house and started climbing up the roof of the house to reach the Murunga tree.

When he came down with the stuff that I was looking for, I offered him some cash for his time, effort and the value of the stuff which he bluntly refused stating that no money is needed for anything given as medicine.

I was watching as he was quietly walking back to his fruit stall and I could not help thinking in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus told his followers, who are mainly poor fishermen and other simple people, “Ye are the salt of the Earth.”

Today I found one such salt of the earth person and I thank him for restoring my humanity again with his kind gesture.