Story of Kanebo Seller

Last Saturday at around 12:30 pm, there was a heavy rain in Rawamangun. Few meters before reaching the bus terminal, I stopped my car when the traffic light turned red. My eyes looked ahead and found a sad scene.

An old man (around 65 y.o.) kanebo seller tries to walk between the stopping vehicles, hoping that someone will buy his products. He wipes his wet face and walks slowly.

I pressed the horn so he can notice and get closer to my car. At that time, I have IDR 60.000,- in my wallet. Fortunately, the price of each kanebo is IDR 10.000 so I can choose the blue-colored kanebo and give him the ten thousand.

My wife told me "maybe you should give him more, baby". "I wish, but I only have another IDR 50.000,- and the traffic light will soon turn into green", I replied.

If I give the IDR 50.000 and tell him to take the change, he might get confused. I also don’t want him to feel that he owes something from a buyer.

Then I remember when my ex boss once told me a good sentence “make the best use of what you have”. Undeniably, I learnt it from an old man -- kanebo seller. Despite of his old age, that man still works in halal way.

Sometimes we don’t realize that many people are working harder than we could imagine. The gap between the rich and the poor can be seen every day. The old man is just a small reflection of the poor society in Jakarta. No one can guarantee that those people would get a better living.

I'm pretty sure that the kanebo seller also wants to have a better job, maybe he has no opportunity to do so. It's inspiring to see him as a motivated man who chose to be a kanebo seller rather than a beggar or even a criminal.

In fact, he successfully makes the best use of his old stamina, two hands and feet to sell his products. Getting money from selling kanebo would be much more graceful than receiving money from corrupt activities, isn’t it?

[caption id="attachment_408851" align="aligncenter" width="490" caption="blue-colored kanebo (middle) that I bought, personal doc."][/caption]