Six times a week I saw him there. He was the first one to always greet me whenever I arrive at work. He is a big man. You can already assume that he is from Africa or Bangladesh because of his skin colour. His hair is the typical-curly-I-woke-up-like-this kind of hair. He was always the coy type – something that you would expect from a person who came from a destitute household. He barely talked although he seemed chatty around me.
Puso. His name is Puso. It’s an average name, a name that you could easily forget. It doesn’t have a nice ring to it. It’s not even interesting, but there is more to him than meets the eye. There’s something special about Puso. Not just because of the fact that his name means “heart” in my language, but because it makes him who he is. He has a big heart.
He worked as a janitor/maintenance guy in the company where I work. He was the cleaner, the sweeper, the toilet ninja, the dust warrior and the garbage hero. Not one single time did I see him doing nothing, taking a break or getting a snack. He was always doing something, whether it be polishing the windows or mopping the floor. He was practically a robot. A robot that needs to work; that needs to suffer the hardships of life for a chance to change the course of his future. I admire him. I admire his dedication, his commendable fortitude to deal with righteous people and co-workers who think that he is nothing more than an expendable employee – someone who isn’t capable of whining about injustice or maltreatment. He didn’t complain, he didn’t make a fuss, he basically would just shrug his shoulders, look down and not say a thing. He would just go back to what he was doing and act as if nothing would ever break him – no words, no insults, no judgment – nothing could ever rupture his faith: his faith that someday…someday…life would be in his favor. Someday…where no one could tell him what he can and what he cannot do, where no one would be discriminated.
Puso taught me a lot of things, things that I never would have appreciated had I not seen the reality of weakness. I will be like Puso. I will be brave. I will never let anyone violate my worth. I am not going to be defined by stupid and inane perceptions. I will never be daunted by people’s foul and callous judgment. I am my own person.
“Heart” represents all things positive and beautiful. It is the human ‘spirit’ in physical form. Brilliant and affectionate post you got here Stephanie!
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Yes Sir Andrei. He is the very definition of heart, in every sense of the word, and I heard that he is doing better now, he left the company and decided to just go back in Cameroon, and the good thing was, I was able to talk to him before he left, I told him not to give up on his dreams. 🙂
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Some people truly leave a mark. For sure, what you did also left a mark with Puso. It’s amazing how people or things close to us can be sources of inspiration at times if we’re just open to opportunities to realize them.
Be open to such opportunities. You have an awesome heart Steph!
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Thank you Sir Andrei. I hope that I can also be an inspiration to others, I am not a very kind person, but I know that people should be treated fair and equally. Thank you for calling me by my first name Sir! 🙂
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Haha, my apologies for calling you another name last time 😅 Please call me Andrei, do away with the Sir for now, I wasn’t yet being knighted haha
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It’s alright Andrei! Thank you for always taking the time to read my posts. 🙂
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My pleasure Steph. I actually love reading posts that depict their authors’ hearts! ☺ Keep the posts coming!
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I enjoyed reading this, really. If only we are all like Puso, what a better place this world would be. And you’re such a good writer really. Phrases like: ‘the toilet ninja’, ‘dust warrior’, ‘garbage hero’ just made me smile 🙂
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Ha ha! He is from Cameroon, kind of quiet and a timid person. I don’t see him very often though, I heard that he came back to his country. Better. 🙂
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Beautifully written!! Just the fact that we have so much to learn…so much to understand…shows humility! God bless
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Thank you so much! I learned to be more patient, to always be grateful about everything I have, to appreciate the people who cares for me. We often neglect the good things about our lives because we only see the bad in it. We should always think that there are a lot of unfortunate people who despite of the hapless circumstances that they have, still, they choose to be positive, they choose to go on. I admire those people.
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Beautiful writing. I love the lesson too
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Wow. Thamk you. Me too. I learned a lot from him. He’s back to his country, I think it’s for the best. 🙂
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Everything works together for good… glad we get to learn from him
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Yes. He was an inspiration. I was working with so much hate and contempt, but he was too brave and cool to care.
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Puso 😊☺✌🏻✌🏻👍🏻
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He has a lot of heart. 🙂
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Yaa that big heart change you too
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It did. Big time. 🙂
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That is definitely someone to admire, you have a great blog- thank you for taking the time to comment on mine. I look forward to more of your posts 🙂
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That is so good to hear. Me too, I can’t wait to read more of your posts. Thanks for the follow, I’ll be sure to follow you back. 🙂
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Hey Steph! Guess what? I’ve nominated you for the Blogger Recognition Award. You can check about it here: https://viewpointsofandrei.com/2017/02/08/blogger-recognition-award
I’ve found you [and your blog] worthy of said award 🙂 All the best to your blog!
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Wow! Thank you so much. This is really cool Kuya! Thank you!
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You’re welcome 🙂 My pleasure.
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Congratulations on your nomination. 😍
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Reblogged this on Random Thoughts.
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A wonderful story. Thanks for sharing.
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Puso’s story is very motivating and I am inspired. His kind of dedication and hard work is something we miss presently in our societies. I hope this post gets to more minds out there
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That’s nice!
To appreciate the little we have can give us lots of happiness
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I would love to meet Puso someday.
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A very proud individual and not the sinful pride kind. A humble silent teacher of few words but holds many lessons to be learned. Those are the kind of people that we learn from, and I mean the most important lessons in life. The ones that don’t come on the diploma, but are very diplomatic in society. You can’t really teach heart, it’s a developed skill. Great post lovely.🌹
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Roy. Thank you so much for being an avid reader of my page, I hope someday I could return the kindness. How have you been doing?
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It’s my pleasure lovely, I love your writing and trust me, you have returned the favor in full many times over, I owe you much😊. I have been “amazing”, thank you for asking and I hope the same for you.🌹
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Beautifully written 👌
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The unsung and the barely-acknowledged are examples to us all. In my workplace, the custodial staff and kitchen help are very well-noticed and appreciated-at least by rank and file educators. This is a lovely post about Sri Puso.
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