A Life Lesson

It started when my father was eighteen years old. He had just graduated from a well-known high school, and he became a university student. When he stepped into the university, he felt very excited because everything was new. He did not know anybody because his friends had studied at the different university.
When he attended his first class which was mathematics, he chose to sit in front of the room. He wanted to focus directly on what teacher taught because he knew that studying at university would be more difficult than studying at high school. In the class, he made friends with the person who sat beside him. “Hello, what is your name?” my father said. “My name is Somchai, and you?” he replied. “My name is Pui” my father answered. My father was a person who found it easy to get along well with other people in a very short time, so he and Somchai had a good relationship together and became very close easily.
On the next day, Somchai brought his new friend whose name is Vorapop to introduce to my father. “Sawaddee Kub! My nickname is Pom” Vorapop said. Somchai told my father that his friend came from Phuket; so remarkably, his accent would not be clear and similar to Bangkok citizens. He was extremely short like a dwarf and had curly short hair. His eyebrows were very thick, and his lips looked very tough. He had a big nose as well as his eyes, and all of these made him look like a bull.
Because of his hideous appearance, other people seemed to avoid being near him. Therefore, he barely had friends. Anyway, he tried to made friends, but no one wanted to talk to him.
When Pom was studying in the class, most of the students tried to pick on him all the time. Some students threw rubbish to his head when the teacher turned his face to the blackboard. Some people wrote rude phrases on the paper and pasted at his back such as “Kick for free!”, “Am I handsome?”, and “I am gay!” Sometimes, he was badly threatened for money, and if he did not give it, he would get hurt. It could be said that, to us, he was merely a joker of the room at that time.
Not only was he picked on so hard in the class, but he was also teased outside the class. When he had lunch, he did not have any accompanies to enjoy the meal with. He was always left out to eat alone. As a result, when he had problems, he was unable to consult with anybody because his existence meant nothing to other students; no one would be caring if he was alive or not.
One day during the trimester, my father had to attend football club after finishing his mathematics class at 5 o’ clock, so he had to go home late. Unfortunately, after finishing his club, it was around 8 o’ clock. He realized that he forgot his car keys, and he did not know exactly where it was. He tried to find it everywhere. Finally, he found it in the locker of football club. When he stepped out of the room, he found that no one was there, so he drove back home alone.
At that time, there was a heavy rain, and he was away from the university around three kilometers. Suddenly, my father’s car was stopped, and he thought that the fuel was run out. Also, there was no gas station around there, so he did not know how to revive his car into life.
During that time, there were no cell phones, so it was quite difficult to contact other people when help is needed. While heavy rain was falling, there was nobody around there. It was around 10 o’ clock as he took a look at my watch and thought that his parents had to be so worried because he did not arrive at home. The only thing that he could do was just to wait for the rain to stop or, if he was lucky enough, help would come to him very soon.
Surprisingly, he was not yet short of luck because, thirty minutes later, there was a man who walked along this way with a pale red hundred-year-old-like umbrella in his hand. That man seemed short and very as similar as the joker in his class. “It is him.” He said while the rain was still washing the earth.
“Can I help?” Pom asked me if he could be any help. “Yes, my car was suddenly dead, and I do not know what to do.” My father replied. My father was wondering if it would be Pom’s payback time or not. Suddenly he answered “Well, let me see your car engine.” So, I walked to my car and showed him a car engine. “Oh man! It is just overheating, but actually you just need it to be cooled down, and your car will come to life again soon.” After that, he just walked away without hearing my father’s “Thank you”. So he stayed silent and said nothing but “Thank you” was echoing in his mind.
On the day later, my father hurried to come to the university. He told the entire story that he had met last night with his friends. “Really” some of the students replied. From now on, Pom who had ever been lonely now got a lot of friends. He had a good relationship with my father as well as the other students.
My father learned from this experience that sometimes the person who you expect to kick will be the one to help you get back. He taught me that I should look beyond the appearance.