Mr. Zaman

Mr. Zaman is a 50-year-old Indian man who works with me in the same department.
When he arrives at work every morning, he has to shake hands with all the staff (let's say about 20 persons), including managers, officers, office boys, … and of course the Boss (me).

If you think he would be satisfied by only saying Good Morning, then you are wrong, he has to ask everyone personally about his/her family and friends…

I can't usually find words to reply to all his questions when he starts: kifak, kif 7alak, shou akhbarak?.... ufff, same words everyday, (actually these are the only words he knows in Arabic, maybe he's doing some practice to improve his second language;).

Yesterday I tried to run away from him in order to escape this daily morning duty, so when I saw him coming, I managed to go to the bathroom to hide and it worked, but not for long. Half an hour later, he left his office and came to me saying: - Did we shake hands today? Ohh nooo...

The story doesn't stop here. Mr. Zaman does also the same thing when we are leaving work. To escape this, yesterday I went down on the stairs instead of waiting the lift. I thought I could succeed this time but actually Mr. Zaman and I arrived together to the ground floor and I had to spend 2 more minutes at the workplace before I go home.

Last night, I thought a lot about this man. I wondered if one day he stops "disturbing" us with his nice words, will this satisfy me and all my colleagues? Are we really annoyed because such a nice person is trying to express nothing but his love and care for us? How bad is our behavior and attitude towards this man.

This morning, I rushed to Mr. Zaman and asked him myself: kifak, kif 7alak, shou akhbarak? But this time I enjoyed it, I really wanted to know what this man feels inside, and why he tries to make everyone happy while he's most probably a man full of sadness and loneliness?

Now I believe that our society needs persons like Mr. Zaman.

I was just trying to figure out how great some people are, before it is too late.

I love Mr. Zaman… I wish we all become like him… I don't want to lose him!