Near my apartment in the Mers Sultan area,
there are a couple convenience stores open at night and next to them is a big
Oil Libya gas station. Inside this gas
station, there sits a big tour bus and inside sits a little, old man with a black,
wool hat and a big smile. I pass by him and say “Salaam Aleykum,” but one day I
decided to stop and see where this bus is actually going.
One Casablanca night, I stop by and he is sitting
inside the bottom of the bus and drinking a coca cola looking up at me. He sits inside with the door open where he has
a pot cooking next to him with vegetables on a gas cooker. We talk in my Englija (Darija with English) and he tells me he works on the bus travelling back
and forth between Casablanca and Tetouan(in the North of Morocco). His name is
Hamed. He says he has four children and a wife who live in the village area of
Tetouan. He shows me his bed, which lies in the bottom of the bus and points to
the coca cola and says “Tranquillo.” He seems very peaceful and simply happy (from Adventures of
Bollywood Solo Traveler)-those who do not gain in materialistic things, but have warmth, kindness, and happiness
in their hearts (PRIS).
While I had planned to go up North to
Chefchouen, I checked the weather forecast and I kept seeing a rainy forecast. Hamed
told me there would be a little rain, but less than Chefchouen. After a difficult
past couple weeks, I took this as a sign to get on the bus to Tetouan and take
a break from Casa. Sitting and speaking with this kind man, I realized I would
rather be on a bus with him for 5 hours than around all the fake people I had been
encountering in Casablanca.
The Simply Happy Vs. The
Superficial Rich
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