Mary Saju Salmiya, Kuwait Perseverance Visited By Kindness Not Once, But Thrice I was fourteen when my dad got into an accident on Oct 20th, 2008; an accident that would change my family’s life. Without health insurance, the fees for his surgery and medical expenditures were sky-high and took a toll on our family’s bank account. Not to mention, the heavy travel fees my mom had to pay to travel back and forth between Kuwait, where we live, and India, where my father was receiving his treatment. Kindness showed itself through the generosity and loving care of my aunt and uncle who looked after my brother and myself while my parents were away. On March 24th, my dad and mom returned from India. It just so happened to be the day of my final examination results. As I headed to school to check out my academic performance, I saw my name on the notice board but instead of my grade I saw something that made my heart drop. “Withheld”. Assuming this meant I had failed – I broke into tears and was shattered. Thoughts began running through my mind, “How would I tell my parents?” “How would I handle the embarrassment of being left behind?” Upon inquiring further at the school office, I found out that I hadn’t in fact failed but rather I was being “Withheld” because school fees hadn’t been paid. I knew the situation at home was bad, but I didn’t realize just how bad. After confiding in my mom, she did something I can only imagine was very difficult. She reached out to friends of hers to help get us through this time, and luckily they donated to help cover my previous and upcoming academic year. Kindness, yet again, showed itself at a time we needed it most! Kindness, yet again, showed itself at a time we needed it most! While my academic success was secured for another year, we were far from being out of the water. My dad required physiotherapy to fully recover. My mother reached out to everyone and anyone she knew about a physiotherapist that may be able to assist for a lower fee. A physiotherapist, more like a true angel, called my mother and agreed to do private therapy. The very next day, there he was ready and excited to help bring my father to a full recovery. “Good thing we started off today otherwise he would have not been alive by next week,” he said. When my mother asked him about the fee he simply said, “We’ll take care of this later.” Night after night he came to our home after a long day at work and spent several hours with my dad. Yet at the end of each night he would simply tell my mom that he would let her know the price at a later time, but that later never came. He understood the hardships we were facing and that life had simply dealt us a challenging hand. He didn’t just do his part, he went above and beyond and because of his kindness, generosity and empathy my dad is alive and well today. It was an act of kindness that pierced our soul in one of the most extraordinary ways.
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