Don't Come Near, She Bites

You look at her once and you see nothing special. She's this woman from the village no one has heard about and she looks rather shabby and dirty. Her eyes are cold and her fingers are too thin that you wonder how long since she has last eaten. She has nothing with her but an old book. You can almost not notice her. Especially in this world where glamour and vanity overtake the facade of the earth, conquering every space and every mirror and every soul. But try, just at least try to look her in the eye. She might have this "don't come near, i bite" attitude, nevertheless, once you really stop and once you see her heart through the lines on her face, then you will see - she is shabby and dirty because she has travelled the world - she touched hearts and alleviated lives and helped others in need; the trace of blood in her skirt was from a Vietnamese boy whose nose bleed because of the scorching sun; the rip in her blouse was caught in a nail while she was running to help an old lady cross the oppressive streets of Jalan Ratuh in Jakarta; her awful scent has sticked with her eversince she left the village hospital in Maguindano where she volunteered to put bandages to wounded civilians who were caught in between the crossfires of the war. Her finger, those thin and feeble fingers, are the fingers of a woman who saw more things than you can ever imagine. That book was the only company she's had. Her cold eyes are the eyes of someone who knows the world upside down - all the wonderful things and the shameful things men ever did to fellow men. She's not your typical woman but she's a woman so rare that she deserves a second, a third..look - perhaps a look that can last a lifetime. She's not your typical woman - she never was, never will be.