Other Peoples Reality – Or Just A Story?

Today, I will tell you a story of a young woman who liked to travel.

A long time ago in Giza/Cairo/Egypt

When a young woman visited Egypt for the first time, she learned horseback riding, and she fell in love, not just with the horses, but also with the people who worked at the stable.

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She met a nomadic family who lived near the pyramids and the horse stables, and when she was invited to visit them at home, a friendship started. She sat with them, shared their meals – sometimes from one plate – and they talked and laughed.

Spending a few days in Egypt now and then was a dream vacation. A few days away from tourism, just riding and being with the family.

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The men were working at the stable during the day and so she spent most of the time with the women. They cooked together and watched how the children played. Often, someone stopped by to visit. Kids were always running around, playing, and laughing.

The father of the family was very religious, but he had accepted the young woman into his family in such a way that at some point, when she was picked up for the trip back to the airport, he hugged her in front of all the neighbors.

She was one of them.

The couple had two children, a little boy and a sweet little girl.

Once, the young woman didn’t come alone to visit, but flew in with other coworkers, and in order not to be too much of a burden, they rented rooms at a hotel nearby. It was a very nice place, with a pool and all the extra amenities Europeans and Americans could wish for.

Life for her friends, the Egyptian family, was rather simple. They lived in a very small hut. The parents and the children shared two rooms; the family still sat on the floor. There was no running water. Showers were taken outside with a water hose. Neighbors and nearby families also lived very traditionally – surprisingly enough, they all seemed happy. They all shared the little they had, and so the young woman took the opportunity to invite the family to the hotel to share part of her world.

There was a beautiful garden with a pool and terraces and waiters who brought them everything their hearts desired. They had set up a long table close to the pool and ordered chicken with fries, Heinz ketchup, and of course, Coca-Cola. People in Africa love it but can’t afford it too often – at least back then.

The little boy and his sister played in the garden and romped back and forth.

Suddenly, the little boy tugged the young woman on her sleeve and said, “Look.” He said it very calmly, even though he was excited. He always tried to be a good boy, and he behaved the way his parents had told him.

The boy pointed at the pool, and we all smiled and nodded. Quickly, he was stripped down to his underwear, which didn’t look so different from the swim trunks other kids wore.

The little boy ran to the pool and jumped into the deep end. The young woman was watching him and saw him go under like a rook. He came up kicking and went underwater again. It dawned on her that he couldn’t swim. He was drowning.

The young woman ran to the pool, jumped in, got a hold of the little boy, and got him out of the water.

He was coughing up a storm, his face red, but he quickly calmed down again. He wasn’t crying. He wasn’t screaming. The whole situation seemed surreal. Why weren’t his parents at the poolside by now? Surely, they wanted to comfort their son. Why was nobody screaming at her? Allowing a young Egyptian child to jump into the deep end. Somebody would make her responsible for the incident, and rightfully so.

When the young woman turned around, she saw that her friends, the boy’s parents, were still sitting at the table. They were smiling and eating like nothing had happened.

She was alone with the boy, and when she looked at her coworkers in disbelief, it hit them all at the same time.

The family lived in the desert. They had never seen a pool. They didn’t have a TV, and they didn’t watch movies. They didn’t know that you had to swim in the water. They simply didn’t understand what had just happened. They didn’t realize that they had just watched their son almost drown. They didn’t know what swimming was. They didn’t know what drowning was.

The parents saw the hotel guests swimming and playing. They saw kids diving and jumping. They heard them screaming with joy. It never occurred to them that their son could die. They also didn’t know that the young woman had just saved his life.

The young woman dried the little boy, who also acted like nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. He didn’t know that he had been drowning. The little boy didn’t know that he could have lost his young life.

Most of us can’t imagine that.

Not knowing how to swim. To not know what a pool is.

Perhaps almost as strange as riding in the desert.

That’s the end of today’s story.

To finally answer today’s prompt:

Most people don’t understand that how they see the world is not the reality of others.

Sometimes, other people’s reality goes so far that it’s hard to believe.

Daily writing prompt

What’s something most people don’t understand?

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