The unsung heroes in our streets

Everyone in the streets has a story to tell but in a different way and normally we are too busy to notice each other as we rush through to do our own businesses.

But again not all of us have the same reasons to be in the streets. Some rush to make it for appointments or to their offices but those who have a purpose to be there are different from the rest of us. For example, what can you say to street sellers on the roadsides who have been in the sun for ten hours?

While slowing down around a corner, I noticed a small queue of people with plastic bottles. They were all queuing up to fill up their bottles from a dispenser of cold water attached on the compound of a house. It was a private house and the owner obviously knows, in the scorching heat of the summer, people who work in the streets, will always need water to drink. It was his way of appreciating the street people.

Do we always notice street sweepers? They keep our roads and pavements clean and they are out there every single day. They do not make headlines in the newspapers or receive top awards. They go unnoticed working all their lives but doing noble duties. Now cast your mind to a person who is an air conditioned office, sitting in a comfortable chair, surrounded by many assistants but getting paid thousands of rials a month.

He is off the street and making loads of money for his company. I have every respect for the top executives like him because their work contribute to job creations and the economy of the country. They deserve the top money they get.

But individuals like them live and work in different perimeters of life with those in the streets. You don’t normally hear that people who contribute their time to the safety or well beings of others in the streets get any recognition. They work in the background. Their good deeds are hidden behind the veils of dusts in the streets blown from our passing cars as we rush with our businesses.

Last week, I saw a man piling up plastic bags, containers, bottles and card boxes in his pickup vehicle from the beach. He was obviously going to sell them to a recycling company. But he was actually cleaning up the beach but nobody really noticed him. Now compare him and the boss in the top floor of a multi-million rial company. Again, there is no parallel and I leave the answer to you.

What about a man who regularly places plastic plates full of water next to rubbish bins for cats and birds to drink? No one in the whole street actually knows who he is and nobody bothers to ask or even stop to say ‘salaam’ to him. Like many like him, they are just a nameless shadow in the sunlight of the day.

They all have one attribute in common. They do not seek rewards or ‘bonuses’ for their acts. They just do it and keep doing it. Let me rephrase it. Although they do not really seek rewards, they really get it in a non-monetary way. They feel peaceful after their daily actions and sleep easy every night.