A Simple but Ambitious Lady - Linda

It was around 2.30 p.m, I was standing second in the queue,for the bus.Unfortunately the bus was at 2:55 p.m and i had to wait. I opened the textbook I was carrying and started reading...!! A middle-aged lady, with a short haircut,just ahead of me, looked at me and asked,'Are you a student?' I smiled at her and said,' A teacher is always a student.....' She was happy to know about my field.She spontaneously asked,'What's your opinion on Mr.Obama's Health-care reform?' I was startled and said,' I am new here, so don't have much experience of health system in USA, just have heard about Mr. Obama's policies in news,saw lot of uproar in public about it, but truly speaking don't know anything about it!!!' I asked her,'What's your name?' She replied, 'I am Linda, am a social worker in New York City Hospital' I said,' It's great!Can you please enlighten me about the Health System in USA and Mr. Obama's policies.' She said,' Actually I am also a certified Massage therapist and have my own Clinic in Manhattan, as well as my work as a full time social worker makes me to interact with many patients...but in my opinion, I am not in favor of his reforms.' and she started to share her views...!!!!

Suddenly there was flashing of the headlights and the bus approached the gate.Ms. Linda was carrying a beautiful bouquet in her hand, I complimented her and asked,' Do you stay in NJ?' She said, ' No, I stay in one of the boroughs of Manhattan, I am visiting one of my client so am travelling.' We made ourselves comfortable in the front seats of the bus. I asked her,' When did you come here?' She laughed and said,'You know I never knew much about this country, when I came here from Philippines i was just 20 . I had done my graduation in Social Sciences, so joined a college here to take a degree. I started working as a part-time in a massage clinic, later on developed interest in that and did a course in that too.'

I said,' Its really nice, so you must have learned Anatomy too.' She said,' Yes,initially it was difficult for me, but it helped me.' She further added,' You know, as a social worker I interacted with lot of geriatric population, most of them suffering from Alzheimer's disease,after a few years, I thought may be massage therapy help them along with medicines and did a research on this at the university, you will be surprised to know that the patients showed positive improvement in their symptoms and are doing well!!' I was happy to know this. She added saying,' You as a human being should always be in the company of books and keep on thinking....'

I asked her,'Are you married?' She smiled and said,' Who will marry with a social worker, I have dedicated all my time in solving the problems of people who don't have a place to stay, food to eat,who even don't get the basic necessities of life......' She stopped and added,'But i did had a boyfriend long back, but we couldn't continue, I guess he felt more insecure by my ambitions...????.' I asked her,'Was he a Phillipino?' She laughed aloud and said,' All Phillipino males are afraid of me, so none of them, came near me....'

I asked her,'When do you, work as a Massage therapist?' She said, 'I enjoy doing that on Saturdays only , and on Sundays I take an off.' She joyously said,' The art and science of Massage is great, my patients are young people to old...affected by sedentary lifestyles or chronic illness tired of all medicines and who come to me, as a last resort,I on the other hand am stressed throughout from Monday to Friday working as the social worker, so working as a Massage therapist only on Saturday.....really acts as an antidote to relieve my stress too haahhahhahahahah!!!!! I said,' The change of job and ergonomics must be really helping you!!' She said,' I will be settling in Philippines after my retirement and have a dream to open a beautiful Spa center there.' I could really feel the confidence radiating from her face through her words...I had to get down from the bus as my stop was approaching...

I bid her good bye, crossing the zebra lines at the signal, I thought how difficult it must be for Linda to cross all the obstacles in life on her own, but it's the parable of her sheer determination , ambition and confidence that can take her to the pinnacle of her dreams. The insight to raise oneself as an independent humanbeing while growing in the diversity of society is what makes her exceptionally Professional!!!!