Sluggish Slave

I heard a sad story about one of our domestic staff, who has been temporarily entrusted with the job of a receptionist and phone attendant. Looking at him, any one would think that he should be either an alcoholic or a drug addict. Such is the look, and yet one would notice him attending the Holy Mass at six o’clock in the morning. Is he excessively pious, just to impress the Fathers and Brothers? I would not think so, because for a man in his forties, such a thing might not occur in the mind. But what I heard from the Brother in charge of him made me think about what this man could be heading towards. To begin with, he is living alone presently, and was married some years ago, and his wife deserted him unable to cope with his temperaments and behavioral pattern, and now he is earning a living here in our house and is managing life by himself. But what could be wrong with him?

One of the reasons for the breakdown of his marriage is probably because he is an alcoholic, who would spend most of his earnings in alcohol, and now that there is no one who would control him, and say not to his drinking habits, he is quite happy. When the Brother in charge refused to give him all the money from his wages, and withheld five hundred rupees for saving, he was not much enthused. He had spent all the money he received at the beginning of the month, and in two weeks be approached the Brother asking for an advance from his wages. It is impossible for drunkards to organize their lives, and think of saving something for future. He lives every day and does not care to think about tomorrow, and if some emergency were to take place, he might be driven to the streets, and there is no doubt about it. Anyone who tries to help him put an order in his life is looked upon as an unwanted intrusion, and in such a situation, his future is bleak.

The gentleman should be happy to get a job, where at least he is sure to get his three meals assured, and if he would behave well, he might get employed on a more serious basis, and may even be taken as a contract employee and therefore might get additional benefits. But who would make him understand that he is only lucky to come to our house and work under the watchful but helpful care of Brother. If there was someone else, he would have been only too happy about the job, however mean and insignificant that is. One of his tendencies which annoy the people, who are responsible for him, is his constant attempt to threaten them that he would not continue in the job too long; poor man, he does not realize that there are other people who are ready to take his job, even if it is only for a few days. Ultimately he would be the one who would suffer due to his stupidity.

Opportunities knock at our doors but only once; now that this gentleman had been threatening us of stopping coming for work, from tomorrow someone else has been arranged, and the Brother in charge is going to tell him not to come for work for the next 10 days, which means there is no guarantee that he would get a job somewhere else where he could earn enough money to have his three meals a day. But that is what is so very typical of drunkards, who only look at the immediate future and fail to see what is ahead of them. If only he was level-headed he would make compromises with the Brother in charge to retain the job, and once he is comfortable with it, he could have pleaded with them to provide him with additional facilities. No one can predict what the slaves of alcoholism would do next, and that is why his life is being drifted each day, and for how long it would continue, no one can say.

He is one who refuses to learn from life; the very fact that his wife could not live with him is ample proof that he needed to do something to keep his marriage intact; instead he is blissfully happy with his life alone, and does not even bother to get her back. Perhaps if his wife had been with him, there are chances that she might be able to turn his mind to something else, and slowly bring him back to his consciousness. The love and affection of women has immense potentiality to change even the hardest of nuts among men; however it would be impossible for women to take risk on their lives and come forward to live with such men, who may not even care to feed them once a day. I feel sad for him, and for his wife (if she is still waiting for him to turn a new leaf and invite her back home), but what could I do, but only wish he stops his alcoholism and take life seriously.