A Great Man

I want to share a story of a shoe polisher. He did his profession honestly. He produced five useful children for his society. In this way, he proved himself a great man. 

I was serving in the Islamabad capital of Pakistan. After office working hours, we daily went to the mosque for prayer. It was a big mosque, and it was constructed in the centre of a grassy field, with a lot of fruit trees and flower plants surrounding it. I felt here peace and internally satisfaction.  After prayer, we went for a walk. We used the road, which was not used for public transport. A small recreational bazaar was in our way. A fresh fruit shop was in this bazaar. We often drank the juice from this shop. The owner of this shop was very active and cheerful. He knew the art of dealing with the customers, and he always kept clean his shop as per the principles of sanitation. On the right side of this shop were coffee and tea stalls. On Sunday, the majority of the employees of our institution visited the recreational bazaar along with their families, and they purchased the daily used commodities. They also used the fresh fruit shop and tea stall for light refreshment. 

On the left side of these shops approximately 25 meters away, a small shop for shoe repair and polish had been established by man. His name was Muhammad Abdullah. He was an aged man, but he was smart and had good health.  When I passed near to him, as per the time, I offered him good morning or good afternoon, and he replied in respectful manners by keeping their hand on his chest.  I often thought about him and how he manages his monthly family expenditure in this profession. On a Sunday, I went to his shop and gave him a shoe for repair. He took the shoe, inspected it and asked me to take it back after the half-hour. I left his shop for some shopping. I purchased some routine use items, and back into the shoe polisher shop, he gave me my repaired shoe. I gave him one hundred Pakistani rupees note as shoe repairing charges and thanked him. When I turned back, he called me politely and asked me to take the balance of forty rupees. I offered him the balance money as a tip but he refused to accept the money. He further said that Allah/God has given to him health for doing work.

One day my roommate told me that the shoe polisher has a good technique to replace the old sole of shoes with new sole and he replaced the soles of old shoes for two hundred fifty rupees. I had an old pair of shoes, and I also decided to replace the soles of the shoes. The next day after working hours, I put my old pair of shoes in a small cloth bag and went to the recreational bazaar. I gave the old shoes to Mr Muhammad Abdullah to replace the soles. He took the bag and asked me to take it back tomorrow. As per the routing, the next day at about 1700 hours, I and my roommate were on walking. On returning from a walk, when we reached the shoe polisher shop, I stopped here and asked about the old shoes, which were given to him for replacing the soles. He extracted my old shoes from a wooden box and told me that my shoe sole is still in good condition and, no need to replace them. I took the bag of shoes from him by saying thanks and he also replied with a cheerful face “always welcome please”. We left his shop and came back. We both were very happy with his honesty and truth. 

During the dinner, I shared the story with the mess members about the honesty and true speaking of the shoe polisher. A colleague asked me his name. I told him that his name was Mr Muhammad Abdullah. On listing the name, he said I know him very well, he is my neighbour. He is a very hard worker and a good man in all respect. His children are well educated and perhaps his elder daughter is also doing the job as a gazetted officer in a department. I decided to meet him and talk with him for some time. One day, I went into his shop and asked him that would he like to talk about his personal life. He asked me why I wanted to know about his personal life. I told him that I think you are a good man to me and I want to take some advice from you. The shoe polisher Muhammad Abdullah replied that he did not consider himself best than any other. He further said that now I go home, and my shop will close for three days due to the marriage of my daughter, however, you can talk with me next week at any time. In the meantime, a big vehicle stopped in front of his shop, a good personality man dropped from the vehicle and respectfully offered him a good afternoon. The polisher stood up in  honour of the man. The man said congratulation to you Mr Muhammad Abdullah, your son obtained the first position in the school. The boot maker replied that it is the blessing of Allah/God and the result of your good teaching and guideline. 

Next week, I went to the shop of Mr Muhammad Abdullah, he welcomed me with a smiling face and offered me a small wooden chair for sitting. I sat down in the chair, and he brought two cups of tea. After taking tea, I asked how many of your children were? He replied that he has three daughters and two sons. I asked him what are they doing? He told me that my elder daughter is doing the job as a chief architecture engineer and my son is a medical doctor at Rural Health Centre. My other son is doing his last semester of Charted Accountant and my other daughter is also a medical doctor in United Nations. My last son is doing O level. I put another question, have you else source of income? He replied that I have no other source of income except this shop. Finally, I asked him if he can like to give me some pieces of advice? He replied that he is an illiterate person and therefore he does not like to advise you, however, he can tell modus operandi of his personal life. I said, exactly, I also wanted to know this only. He told me the following:- 

• He does his job/profession honestly. His family and he lead a simple life according to his daily income.

• He and his wife respect each other and always use parliamentary language. 

• He always guides the children to keep their focus on their studies and maintain discipline. 

• Result.  This story tells us that education, wealth, big appointment or big designation cannot make you a great man but your good performance and character can make you a great man.