¿WHERE DO YOU LIVE?

For many years I have worked on a cruise ship, I used to share the room with just one person; we got a bathroom, a bunk bed, a TV, a chair with a desk, 2 lockers and nothing else; but I learnt to appreciate my roommates when I got one who used to make the cohabitation not so pleasant, he was from India and he was thinking just about himself, different from another Muslim from Indonesia who was my roommate as well; this Indonesian guy was great, we used to share great moments talking about life, soccer, sharing drinks and snacks, if one of us was missing anything like toothpaste, detergent, etc the other one offer his back stock right away knowing that the one who received it will give it back as soon as possible, if not was not a problem because we used to be very good friends like a family; both roommates were Muslims but clothes doesn’t make the man, isn’t it.

Now I will give a couple of examples to make you feel my point:

·         Indian roommate: his “friends” didn’t use to invite him to parties, he used to like to drink on his bed (Bottom bunk) alone, once, I got into the cabin and he was drunk, just to make a conversation I greeted him, he answered lively and then we started the conversation, of course during the whole talk he didn’t offer me a bit of his whisky, he was very happy for his recent built house, he showed me a picture of it, then I asked him if he was married, he answered negatively, alleging that women in his country are gold diggers; so I asked about his parents, then he told me that his father was a grouchy old man and his mom was very nosy , so I asked him whom do you live in that big house with?, he answered by myself, and then I reply but that house is huge, is just for you?  I told him that so big house for just a person is like buying a big refrigerator for just a piece of meat; he just replied me laughing at me saying that the tranquility doesn’t have a price is better to live by yourself and I don’t need nobody else. For me hear that was sad, because the tranquility is in you, you don’t have to be alone to feel it, definitely he didn’t  know nothing about share, charity, give without expecting something back, all those things which make us feel spiritually rich.

·         Indonesian roommate: He was different, he wasn’t the craziest one, and a saint either; but once we talk about this man from India, he was Muslim as him, and he told me something that I remember until now; one house is expensive to build it and it has a price, but a home doesn’t cost anything to build and is priceless, in a few words, business logic “build a home is better business”.

       After 10 years working on a cruise ship, I learnt how important a home can be, and home is not form just by a couple and kids, a home is form by people who love and care each other, people who know what share means; people who can warm those cold walls of a house, but human warmth, people who can decorate it with smiles and happiness, people who can illuminate it with moral principles as they practice in it and if is necessary to  spend all your efforts to maintain it solid, you should do so, no matter the price you pay for it; just to finish I don’t think the man I was talking about, can’t afford to buy a home as he bought his house, because the wallet for it is not in the pocket is in the heart, and it has to be full, I hope someday he can afford it.

See you next time bloggers…. 

Jorge Horna