people watching.

Last night, we went to see Ina at HUKM. We got there around 11.00pm and waited near the Emergency Ward while Abah went to find a place to park the car. As we stood there waiting outside the ambulance drivers rooms listening to them laughing hysterically about something and wondering what on earth could be so funny in a place like this. I watched the people walking by, the ones sitting on the bench just outside the ward, and the ones just standing there looking like they're waiting for something. A car had just pulled up at the entrance and some people were helping an old man out of the car into a wheelchair. I couldn't really see his face. I couldn't see how sick he looked. I could only see that he was wearing nothing but a sarong. He must have been really sick to not have enough time to even put on a shirt. I wondered what was the emergency? Three kids and a lady had dominated the bench beside us. The mother takes out some coins. Two run excitedly across the road to the vending machines as another one watches as she shakes her legs which barely touch the pavement. Somewhere inside I could see a man on the phone, he's got a tiny baby in his arms. I wondered where it's mother was. Was she at home? Was she the one on the other end of the line? Or was she the one they were waiting for in the Emergency Ward? Maybe she's the doctor busy saving the old mans life in there. I wondered who these people were. I wondered if they needed help with something. And if I could have been the one to give them the kind of help they needed. I wondered just how much they're just barely surviving and if I could ever do anything to relieve that feeling. I wondered what secrets they have that are eating them up alive, inside. As I stood there waiting for my sister, I wondered if someone was looking at me and thinking the same things too...