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Gavin Almeida

Gavin Almeida

Just a writer with some unique experiences to share

Angel in disguise

3 min readApr 3, 2021
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Colleges are tough, well that applies to pretty much every single college ever where every institute would require effort and hard work. It is foolish for people who don`t have the ability or skill to join highly demanding courses for what insane person would bite more than they chew.

That`s where I come in, I know that insane person for that is me. What happens when a person is forced into a stream he/she isn`t prepared to dedicate themselves for, a college course that`s not for the faint of hearts but the student is enduring the long struggle because of the societal pressure that made all parents push them into extremely demanding courses as it is made to believe respect in society is much more important than personal interests, what happens in the process of going through such an unwanted atmosphere? Depression.

Dear reader do not be concerned this is not a call for help I am in a much better state and I`ve overcome my issues through the never-ending support of my friends and family. This article isn`t about me this is about the angel in question, my Lunch lady.

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I assure you half of my anxiety would've disappeared had I known I was being looked after in secret. There was such a lunch lady who would make sure I had more rice on my plate, made sure the other helpers gave me a bigger chicken piece or Egg curries. I was a fool who couldn`t even figure out my plate had a higher amount of food than my friends, personally, if you know me and know how scrawny I was it would be a no brainer to realize I do not eat a lot and hence it was such a struggle for me every lunch break.

It was well after leaving my college that I came to know about such a presence. A summer evening when I came to collect some documents I just went to the canteen to grab something to eat and the cashier who was familiar with me told me about this lunch lady. Apparently, I looked similar to her son and reminded me of him and she couldn`t resist taking care of me, unfortunately, I've never got a chance to meet her because by then she had stopped working in that college. I didn`t get a chance to thank her for all that she did for me, I couldn't even get to see who this person was, all that I know was that I was in caring hands who looked after me like their own son.

The story doesn`t stop there, all these years I've been spreading this kindness to every worker I meet, every cleaning lady, every minimum wage worker who aren't accustomed to people they provide services to be thanked with the positive energy I received from my lunch lady, I see her in every person, I verbally say thanks to whenever someone delivers any package to my home, I sort out my plates and keep the food waste in a single bowl to make it easier for the cleaning staff etcetera.

It is still never gonna be enough it will never match the kindness I received from her but not even trying my part would be an insult to what I was taught by her.

I will forever be grateful to her and in no circumstance will I ever think of any worker to be above me, they can have the biggest of hearts, the biggest of wings, the biggest Angels.

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Gavin Almeida
Gavin Almeida

Written by Gavin Almeida

Just a writer with some unique experiences to share