Imperfection...

He held his mother’s hand and took a final look at his home from outside the gate. It was where he grew up but now, he has to go; he has to leave the place he had always called home. “Come, we must go or we will be late for the flight.” His mother said. He stepped up to his old, wrinkled nanny who has been taking care of him ever since he was born. It was heartbreaking to say goodbye to her. The almost toothless nanny could not help but to weep as she hugged him for the last time. As the car left for the airport, he took a peek from the back window of his car, only managed to see her slowly fading out from his view.

The airport was packed with tourists, locals and air crew. The smell of smoke choked him on many occasion. He would never miss the sight of smokers all around him and to him; this was like a torture chamber filled with poisonous gas coming from a lighted cigarette. Seeing the pain carved on his face, his mother tried her very best to check in as soon as possible. And he finally could breathe fresh air once again at the waiting room. Having born with an outgrowth that blocked almost his entire nasal cavity, she was glad that her son did not have to suffer from the cigarette smoke. Excessive exposure to cigarette could probably increase the rate of the outgrowth, causing a fatal result.

All around him was passengers of the plane. He looked at his younger brother beside him and asked, “Are you ready? We are boarding the plane soon.” He replied with a nod. Neither of them had traveled on a winged aircraft before, so the first experience of flying proved to be difficult to overcome. Nevertheless, they boarded the plane, greeted by friendly air stewardesses. Comfortably sitting on the seat, he peered out of the window, thinking that this was goodbye for good. With seatbelt fastened, he was prepared to leave as the plane made its way to the run way. The plane fired its booster and heated engine, the pilot controlled the lever such that the plane would be able to make a dash on the run way and finally, piercing its way towards the sky. He closed his eyes in fear that something might just go wrong. When the plane has finally stabilized from sudden turbulences, he opened his eyes with tears flowing down. He was glad that he was safe and sound. It was just that he could not bear to leave his loving relatives, fellow friends and especially his aged nanny.

Such was the distant days he recalled a few years after. Living in another country has brought him a new environment to adapt to its weather, food, rules and regulations but mostly its people. He lost contact with all his friends he made back in his hometown since he left abruptly without giving them any notice so, finding himself all alone in a new ‘habitat’ surrounded by strangers made him feel so uneasy. And to make matters worse, he could not speak their language. He knew he has to pick up the foreign language or perhaps perish since everyone in the new country could only communicate in that language. Considering his age of eleven years, learning a new, foreign language he has never spoken in was a nightmare. He had to endure people’s laughter when he tried to converse with the locals. Well, probably that caused him to have a low self-esteem.

However, if there was something he liked about this new ‘habitat’, it would probably the fresh air. He could now breathe easy since the number of smokers was minimal. His mother was glad that with this atmosphere, the outgrowth would likely stop growing or slow down. This could only mean one thing, the operation would not be necessary. Due to this reason, she thought it would be better to stay here so that he would be better of. No more trips to the specialists; no more breathing difficulty; no more irritating sneezing. That way he could lead a normal life. And hopefully, the outgrowth would disintegrate although she knew that the chances were slim as doctors had prescribed. They suggested surgery to ease his breathing difficulty, thermal radiation to shrink the size of the outgrowth and chemical sprays to slowly reduce the active outgrowth cells. But his parents decided not to follow their suggestions mainly because they thought that a young boy could be traumatized or possibly would not survive the surgery since it involved blood capillaries to be cut off. Furthermore, the outgrowth could appear again even after removal through surgical methods. This was the outgrowth called ‘sinusitis’ which was common. It affected the patient with variable allergy such as dust or pollen, continuous sneezing, excess production of liquefied mucus, breathing difficulty when exercising and sleeping causing more fatigue and the outgrowth simultaneously kept growing as he got older till it would fully block the nasal cavity. Although it was not inheritable, he would have to carry it all his life unless he went for surgery.

A blessing or a curse one might decide, he only knew that this imperfection was already with him since he was born. He decided to move on and let go of the desire to remove this little imperfection. After all, it could be a gift from above which made him to feel inferior in some ways so that he would humble himself. Until he received the calling from above, he planned to live with it all his life, why alter one’s imperfection when it made him more humane, less boastful about perfection, always believing that every imperfection has a perfect reason behind it.

Years passed and he finally mastered the foreign language, enabling him to socialize with the local islanders with confidence. They no longer laughed at his pronunciation or grammar mistakes or even comprehending what he was saying. After years of adapting to a new culture, new place to live in, he began to grow fond of it. Well, not entirely because his hometown would remain in his heart. The thought of the nanny he had lost made him feel so down at times. Though now, he has grown into a fine, young man, part of him still was attached to his nanny. He thought that he could now repay her tireless effort bringing his up from a toddler but he has not heard from her for quite a long time. His departure would probably mean the end of her services and loyalty to the family.

The author wants to remind smokers out there to stop their addiction because for every cigarette lit, not only you will suffer, others like the character mentioned above are likely the ones who have to bear the consequences he did not cause. Smoking is never a must; it is a choice which one can turn away from. So when someone offers you a cigarette, it is always courageous to say no and turn away. You do not need to be a peer to someone who branded you as a coward for turning away because they do not know it takes a whole lot of courage to uphold your beliefs.