WHEN "i" WAS IN NETHERLANDS

WHEN “I” WAS IN NETHERLANDS

Some of my friends are now in abroad. They are on theirs holidays for they plan to visit Turkey, Spain, France, Netherlands and Switzerland.

When I heard the word of Netherlands, a short tale that happened there a few years ago dart to my mind. It made my feeling edgy. It made me uneasy.

Two  of my friends have once visited Netherlands and stay there for a few days. One day they took a public transport to visit some place. I forgot what type of transport they took. It might be a bus or a train. The transport is not important, but what have they done on the transport are very important enough. It left bad scars to their feelings and very difficult to heal.

They have to stand up on the trains because there were no seats for them to sit. That was OK for them because their journey was very short.

When the train halted at a station, a few passengers rushed in. The last passengers who enter the train where the two friends were standing, was a woman. She was not white, short and fat woman.

When the woman came nearer to where they were standing, one them said to his friend, “Brother please give way to the big and fat sow”.

“Ok. No problem fat sow”. He adjusted his body so that the woman could pass them easily to go forward.

A few minutes later the train halted at the station. The passengers who arrived at their destination quickly rush to the door to go out from the train. One of them was the woman they called “big fat sow”.

The woman who was in hurry stop a them for a minute to say, “Excuse me. Please give way to the big, fat sow”.

They were very shock to hear that the woman said in their mother language, the same words that they have insulted her.

It never came to their minds that the lady or any people in the country that so far away from their country could understand and spoke their language. One is in East and one is in the West.

After the lady that they called sow spoke than only their minds dart some part of the history which make them tremble on their feet. They should not forget that the Dutch have ruled Indonesia for a long period of times before it get independence with their blood. During such a long times, many Dutch man and women who lived in Indonesia could spoke and understand Malay language, mostly Indonesian. The lady was surely one of them.

They regret what they have said to lady. They tried to stop the lady to ask for forgiveness, but at that time the woman had step down from the train and door was immediately closed. The two men saw the woman as far as they could see with their empty heart as the train continue its journey to next stations.

They were very unhappy to continue the journey. They were very remorse and shameful. Why are they very rude and discredit to the sincere lady? They were restless all the day.

The next day, nearly at the same time the lady boarded the train the two men went to the same station with full hoped to meet the lady again. They waited there about two hours for the lady to appear but it was in vain. The lady was never come at the station as they hopped. They wanted to ask for forgiveness for their barbaric word to her.

Alas, pity for them.

I relate this story as a reminder to all of us, mostly myself.

Don’t say bad word to any person. Guard our mouths. Think before we speak. Be careful with our tongues. Words are like spears, can go into our ears and pin to our heart. The heart will hurt, and took a long time to heal. Than we will regret and take a long time to forget what we have done. Only the forgiveness will console our hearts.

Kg.Jaya Setia,

PCB, KB. Kelantan.