Sixty Three

This incident happened a few years back as I was waiting outside the administrative office of the college I attended in Malaysia; just dealing with some last minute requirements before I left the college for good to continue further in Australia. I ran into a friend from the Rotary club I was a part of and did an absolute double take at her appearance. She was so immaculate and just a few weeks ago I had her seen an absolute mess with haphazard hair and torn jeans. Apparently she had recently been brainwashed.

I don't really remember her name but for convenience sake will refer to her as R. I had known her for a while now and she seemed sensible enough but I hadn't seen her on campus for sometime so I enquired about where she had been. R started praising this seminar she had been to and learnt that she belonged in the service industry as opposed to been an academic. Fascinating I thought! Not at her words but at the changes in her, in the calm way she spoke and the politeness and confidence that she displayed.

At this point I would have been happy if she had continued to talk about herself, however, I was sadly mistaken. She launched into a huge diatribe on how she wanted me to attend a seminar and how beneficial it would be for me and so on. I suspected there was some sort of debt she owed to the people who brought about this "change" in her.

I began to feel immensely uncomfortable. With her every argument I counter-argued that for me what I wanted I had mapped out at the age of 10. I was glad for her but it was not me; eventually she stopped trying and I managed to stir the conversation in the direction of some gossip involving our Rotary leader and her loser boyfriend.

As I inwardly heaved a sigh of relief I couldn't help feeling sorry for her and this debt that she obviously had to repay - what a price for figuring out your life!