The Old Man Who Chose to Be Happy

There was an Old Man, not too tall, with grayish hair always combed to the right. He was always dressed up nicely from tip to toe and his shoes were always shiny.

There was a gentle smile on his face that would calm down even the wildest beast. His forehead was lightly wrinkled showing out his wisdom.

Every day at 09:00 am he would come out from his building and go to the nearest coffee shop which was right around the corner of his block.

His walk was elegant and firm, his body posture was straight and his smile was always shining from his face.

The long brown coat, his black glasses and mostly the confidence he was radiating would convince anyone that this man is living a wealthy life.

When he entered the coffee shop everyone would turn their heads at him, like they were sensing his positive energy. He would stop for a moment, take of his glasses, look around and greet everyone with a gentle nod with his head.

Like it was a competition who says it first, everybody would shout “Hi”, “Hello Sir”, “How are you Sir?” in the same voice.

The old man would wink at them, smile and move to make his order. He was always ordering the same thing, an “English Breakfast” with black coffee.

The way he ordered was always kind and for the people who worked at the coffee shop it was a privilege to serve him.

He would eat his breakfast, drink his coffee, leave a 2 dollar tip and leave the coffee shop.

One day it was pretty crowded at the coffee shop and the guy who worked there was in a bad mood. The old man ordered his usual but after 15 minutes he still didn’t get anything.

He apologized at the guy who worked there and kindly asked him, “excuse me young man, what happened with my order?” The young man ignored him, he was busy trying to take other orders.

The old man waited for another 5 min and again, kindly asked the young man, “excuse me buddy, I saw you are busy so I didn’t want to interfere with your work but I ordered 20 minutes ago and I still haven’t got…..” “I heard you the first time, just wait a little would you, god!” shouted the young man giving the old man his black coffee in an angry fashion.

“I see you are angry buddy, what’s the problem?”, continued the old man. “It’s not your business old man” said the young boy.

“As a matter of fact it is…..”, kindly replied the old man, ”…..you are sharing negative energy with all of us at the coffee shop and you are someone I know which makes it my business.”

“I don’t care old man, you would probably never even understand poor people’s problems.”, the young man replied.

“What’s the problem buddy, tell Me.” kindly asked the old man.

“Why do you care, god! I was robbed ok, I was saving for paying my scholarship and all of my savings are now gone! I don’t even have money to pay my rent this month! So sorry for bothering you all with my negative energy but I don’t care about voodoo staff right now!” shouted the young man while tears were filling his eyes.

“Alright buddy, but when I asked you what was the problem, I was thinking why are you not happy?”

The boy looked at the old man with anger in his eyes and shouted “I just told you my problem, are you deaf?!”

The old man, without removing the gentle smile from his face, took a sip from his coffee and stood up. “Come with me” he told the young man. “Come with me I can help”.

The young boy looked at him with skepticism but the confidence of the man was too much to question so he went with him.

“How can you help?”, he asked.

“Just walk with me.”, the old man replied while he was opening the door of the coffee shop.