Be thankful My promo-mentors writing challenge
It was a Saturday morning and I was on an outreach in a remote Street in Ibadan along with my team when we came across a guy who was smoking and I approached him and I asked him if he could give me few minutes of his time but he was hostile to me and wasn't ready to listen but I wasn't ready to give up so I continued to talk to him about the negativity of smoking and if he would consider dropping the habit. He gave me a Stern look and in frustration cursed at me but this time in a well composed English which made me realized he was educated and wasn't born on the street so I knew since I got a reaction I could get him to talk so I asked if I could get a stick of the cigarettes, with a shock look on his face he gave me a stick and I joined him but I choked and he started to mock me. I asked him how long he had been smoking that made him so good at it and he said 5 years, I knew I had his attention so I asked him why he started smoking and that was when he opened up that his parents divorced and he was alone with his mom, his mom was unable to pay the bills for his school so he had to go to the street to "hustle" like he called it to provide for his mom,he told me he would be willing to get off the street only if he could get a nice job that would earn him a nice income to fend for himself and his mom. I realize we shouldn't judge people before we get to know them and we should learn to be thankful for what we have, that encounter changed me and my perspective about life.
Thank you for your entry @feebie!
It's an honour to be a part