The Magic of Advance Reciprocation - friendship and kindness

9. Friendship

Friendship is the remembering of kindness,

The forgetting of slights,

The praising of virtues,

And the acceptance of failings.

It is the meeting off two soulbirds who greet each other;

“Come as you are for I want neither more nor less of you,

And I shall come as myself, as in truth, your servant.”

I am a little unwell. But yesterday I could not delay two meetings and attended my clients in the office. Feeling a little peckish later I dropped by my favourite beef noodle shop, Gyuniku. As I entered I noticed my Sarawakian friend, Micheal having lunch with two of his co-workers. We are not particularly close but I always found him to be good company. He is a go-getter Bidayuh (one of the largest tribes in Sarawak) and a  manager of a F&B consortium which owns a chain of restaurants and pubs in KL. The one near my office is an Irish-esque watering hole called Finnegan's. Anyways, I said a cheerful hello to Micheal and found myself a table nearby.

Yes. The Irish are here in Malaysia. Sort of. 

I do not know why, but as I watched the trio finishing their late lunch, it crossed my mind, "Gee... I wished I had some extra money to treat Micheal for that lunch. Oh well, maybe next time..." I philosophically concluded.

Lunch was served (Hot and Spicy broth with odds and ends of a cow - briskets, tendons, beefballs, beef slices, tongue etc...) and I concentrated on Gillian Tett's book entitled Fool's Gold. It's been one year since I bought the bally book. The going is slow because it is packed-full of arcane terms and abbreviations of the financial industry.

As I was consuming food and book, a waitress suddenly appeared and said, "Sir, your bill has already been paid." Gesturing towards Micheal. Surprised, I said thank you to Micheal for the treat, to which he said, "It is nothing, bro... nothing!" 

It is of course something. He read my mind and reciprocated in advance (Or did I read his? Or perhaps our unspoken thoughts kinda bumped into each other?) - These little things and ironic surprises that brightens your day.

May someone treat your lunch today, sunshine. Or better still, you treat them lunch.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam
Love will show the Way