Assalamualaikum & Hi,
Today after coming back from work, I'm not sure what has gotten into me but I feel like I want to clean the toilet.
And it made me remember one person who had changed my life. A lot of people made me became a better person but this person was the first one.
It was my tuition teacher, the late Cikgu Jamil (I swear I cried writing his name now).
When I was in primary school I was so bad at many subjects especially Maths. I never got an A or B from standard 4 onwards. Some more I was lazy. I'm still lazy now, but I was even lazier before.
Before I entered standard 6, my parents send me to Cikgu Jamil's tuition class. They way he taught us was different. He wanted us to understand but he made us believe in ourselves too. Of course he scolded me many times and he always challenged me to do better. He said I was the eldest child, I have to set a good example to my siblings. He knew my father always cook for my family, so he said "your father cook everyday for you, send you here and your mom also a teacher, so you have to be a good child to them. One day you have to repay what they've did to you.
As a 12 years old of course that simple advice inspired me. I studied Maths so hard after that. Not only that, I spend time learning other subjects too. I also aimed to go to boarding schools because he always tell us his students who went there received amazing opportunities.
And I did achieved all that. He was so proud of me. The first person who came to my mind when I got 5As for UPSR after my parents, was him. Since then, I never got anything lesser than A for Maths or even Add Maths. It was because my basic foundation was strong, thanks to him.
I did meet him a few times after primary school and secondary school. But I always feel shy to go see him alone. The last time I met him was my early days in university. He was proud of me, for making it this far. He said he knew I'll be successful one day.
One day, my mom told me he was sick. When I went back to Kedah, I really wanted to see him but I didn't. And it was the last time I heard about him before I got the news he passed away. I really regret not going to see him for the last time. If you want to see anyone, don't delay, just go because you'll never know when is the last time you'll see them.
So back to my cleaning the toilet story tonight, my dear Cikgu Jamil once said, when you feel bad about yourself, go to the toilet & scrub the whole toilet especially the toilet bowl like you're cleaning your heart. Imagine you're cleaning the mess in yourself. You'll feel better after that. Solve your problems after that. You'll make it through. And tonight, I remembered him while cleaning the toilet.
He was an amazing teacher who gave impacts in so many of his students life. If he was here today, I'll go see him and tell him I didn't become a doctor like I wanted, but I'm now selling medicine to doctors. I'll treat him amazing food because he's a food hunter too and share stories of my journey. He'll be so proud of me. He'll said, "Go repay what your parents have done for you" and he'll tell me I did a good job.
But he's no longer here. It's just my unfulfilled dream. He's now at a better place eating as many seafood as he want without worrying about getting gout. He's happy in the afterlife for all the good deeds he did in life.
May Allah grant you the highest place in Jannah, my dear late Cikgu Jamil.
Al-Fatihah.
Till then,
Adlina.