DO IT RIGHT

Waiting in line for food has always been the norm for most students in his school. John was in a not so well built campus. He didn’t complain much because it didn’t define the kind of education he’d get from there. It is a topic most people talked in whispers because it is embarrassing to say a school is not up to your desired standards yet you don’t apply for a transfer.

There are two lines to be formed every meal time. John had already taken a receipt for his food and was already in the second line. Grace, a girl in her class, had really wanted to tag along but she got held up while finishing off an assignment. She had to send john if she wanted to get some of the best meals served there because if she had gone later they’d be out of the best food.

She came panting and she had barely caught her breath when john beckoned her to join him in the line because it gets really boring waiting to be served. He made space in front of him and while joining the line grace couldn’t help but notice that the others in line were not so impressed by what had just happened.

Complaints were raised and suddenly there was unrest in the hall. After an exchange of unpleasant words, grace clearly couldn’t hold the urge to walk right up to the guy and slap the taste out of his mouth. John was quick to notice the sudden turn of events and he went after her to bring it to an end. Sadly she had gone close enough for contact and as john tried to talk her out of her anger, there were screams all over and the boy who had insulted grace fled the scene.

Before the pain set in john wondered why there were screams and why they became distant by the second. He felt the pain in a distance and in a heap, he fell on the wet floor with a fork in his back. The fork that was to be in grace’s stomach was sticking out of him and life oozed slowly out of him as he kicked softly to gasp for air.

The autopsy showed that he died out of a punctured lung. Grace didn’t know whether to blame herself or the bastard that saw it wise to stick a fork in john’s back. In his eulogy it read:

A young man’s life ended in its prime by a person who held a fork better than his temper.

Among many other praises that were sang that day, gentleman is not a word that came to many people’s mouths because not very many people know how hard it is to hold your temper especially when someone mentions parents somewhere in between the insults. It’s all fun and games until your parent is mentioned but it took a great deal of patience on the side of john not to strike back and hold tongue against the assailants. His death will be to many a lesson on kindness and the kind of sacrifices that should be made for peace and goodwill to prevail. It’s not his death that made him a gentleman; anyone could have taken that fork. It was his gearing towards a worthy cause.