Roads Leading to Myself

                                                     

Asya went through a busy month. She always was rushing to meet deadlines.“Even if the day was forty-eight hours instead of twenty-four, I still wouldn’t be able to finish up!”she thought to herself. She was always distracted by another job. On one hand there were projects to be done, on the other hand there was her home and family. And also she was trying to make some time to visit her mother and father.

“How difficult it was to live in a different city. If only we had been in the same city, I wouldn’t always have to think about them. When they got sick, I couldn’t go there to help them. But aren’t there also people although they are living in the same city they don’t care for their parents.”

She was thinking to herself. It hadn’t been easy for her to move to another city. She had a hard time getting used to it. During her transition period she frequently got sick and her family visited her as often as possible. Now, they needed her. Lately they had caught a cold during the pandemic and were still suffering for the last few months. It was her mom, who especially had a very bad cough. There was almost no doctor left unvisited. Her siblings thought that her mothers’ situation was a bit psychological. Three days later she would have some space. But she felt so tired. But she also knew that she had to go over there to support her parents. Words of a person dear to her rang in her ears. 

“To go there, when you don’t need anything, but the other side needs you badly… To be the one who fulfills their needs. Because whoever helps the needy will be helped in return.”

Now, she was fine, but they needed her. The decision was made. She was going to be the fulfiller of needs. Finishing her preparations, she went on her way.

“Whenever we go on a way, the adventure begins. You will never be the same person when you return” Asya thought. Murmuring to herself a few times: “Roads leading to myself…” On one side she was looking at the vastness of the sky. It always seemed to comfort her while on the other hand she was thinking about this phrase: “Whoever helps the needy will be helped in return.” It was prone to a lot of meanings. 

She remembered something from her years at the university. They studied together with Melike for their Economics class. Both shared their notes and explained the parts they best knew to each other. Both had fulfilled each other’s needs and both passed the class with flying colors.

Our needs were always different. Humans, animals in nature… Plants needed water but each one’s needs were different. A cactus and a rose have different needs. Carnivores and herbivores have all different needs. And we as humans all have different needs. It is precious to be the one in the right place at the right moment and to be able to help someone needy…

“What a wonderful thing it is to help each other” she thought. One day they brought some woods to a family whom had none. On that day she felt peace and a warmth around her heart. She thought: How much people were mistaken thinking that they were helping someone. Because through helping someone you were helping more yourself than other people. To touch your own heart, you must be helping other people, someone who is fulfilling the needs. Because all the roads leading to oneself must go through touching other peoples’ lives.

People need people

People who need people are the luckiest people in the world. 

First be a person who needs people.

(Lyrics from People, by Barbra Streisand)