"Where Are You From?"

December 4, 2008

That evening, as usual, I went to work after I finished my Japanese class. The weather was not very cold yet I was still freezing. It was all because that in the morning, I decided not to wear many shirts inside my sweater. It is too heavy. Besides, the forecaster said that the weather might be warm. I thought I could stand the cold, but MasyaAllah, I could not. Moral of the story: Just wears as many clothes no matter how annoying it will be or what the forecaster said. Allah will decide what weather on the day will be, not the forecaster.

About 4.30pm, I arrived at my work place. I quickly grabbed some food to eat since I was fasting on that day. It's been a while since the last time I fast during Thursdays. Alhamdulillah, I finally made it this week although I almost broke my fast in the afternoon because of hungriness.

After I had my iftar, I started my work at 5 sharp. The dining hall was not so busy since most of the students went to watch the football match. In here, football is really a big game. Moreover, Rutgers is one of the top college team in the United States. I do not know whether it is true, but that is what people said. Because of that, whenever there is a match, most of the students want to see it. As a result, the dining hall was empty and had very few activities.

I kind of felt relieved by the slowness but at the same time, I felt bored. I do not want to do many works but I also hate to do nothing. So, if there any job that I can do, I will just do it no matter how ridiculous it would be.

When I was walking around, looking for something to do, I saw a worker (an old lady) was trying to hold the heater's door while she was trying to take the foods out from the heater. I felt pity for her, and I decided to help her by holding the heater's door for her while she was doing her job.

Suddenly, she said "That was kind of you. You are very nice,".

After that, an African-American man replied, "Yeah, he is really good".

Then, the lady asked me, "Where are you from?"

"Malaysia," I answered.

Suddenly, I wondered, why do she has to ask where I came from? Is that important?

The only answer that I could think on that time is; our act in foreign country will reflect what other people will think about people in our country. Maybe she thought that I came from a place which had a lot of many kind people. Indeed, we had many nice people in Malaysia. Furthermore, I don't looked like an American, a Chinese or an Indian.

When I said I came from Malaysia, I felt a little bit proud inside my heart since now, one of the American will think that all of Malaysians are good people. Just because a very trivial thing I did, I made a good perception of people toward Malaysia. Not to brag myself, but just to show how a simple good deed that many of us could do, may make people have a positive view about our country.

As a conclusion, my advice to all Malaysians out there:

No matter wherever you are, be nice to other people (not only to strangers) because you might change the world's perspective towards our beloved Malaysia.

p/s: No picture for this post. Sorry!