Is it worth it to be honest in life?
This is a question of what humanity since its start is asking himself…
And exactly that’s why I wanted just to explain something from my own life experience to add a different perspective for you all and judge for yourself…
The incident was for some years ago. I was not feeling well and went to the nearest private hospital in my district in Istanbul to get treatment.
It was Friday evening and the emergency station was crowded with people waiting at the counter.
After half an hour, only one person was left in front of me. As far as I understand the person was a tourist from Malaysia whose 8-year-old daughter had an accident and a bloody wound in her stomach. Because of boredom, I was also listening to the lady at the counter with a half-Turkish and half-English explanation. After a few minutes, a word from her has suddenly brought me back from my boredom.
I did not want to believe my ears. It was an emergency situation with a dangerous wound but she said:
“Sir, the surgery costs are 15,000 TRY and we can not accept this card, you have to pay it in cash, otherwise we can not do anything.”
It was not allowed by law to ask for a sum in an emergency situation and not in advance anyway, but everything by the side, 15,000 TRY, you could already make a heart transplant. So much money to clean and mend a wound? And in the meantime, the kid was still losing blood?
The man pulled out his wallet and there was only a few hundred TRY in it. In a helpless way, he begged the lady and asked if he could not pay later since he had taken a taxi directly to the hospital and could not withdraw money anywhere. He wanted to ask at home so he can get some more money tomorrow.
But the woman at the counter was so stubborn and said in cold blood that it is not possible.
I was very weak because of my illness, but I could not hear this inhumanity anymore and came into the conversation:
“You can not ask for money from a patient in an emergency situation. I will call the Health Ministry hotline now to report this inhumanity.”
She: “No, we can, because after the law, ehmm..”
Me: “Which law, say me right now !”
She: “Ehmm..”
(She was looking at that moment in such a wave of anger to me )
Me: “Btw, can you show me fast the price list for the treatments. I want to see the exact price for this treatment, black on white !”
She: “Yes sir. I’ll show you the price list..”
Then she walked out from the counter and someone else replaced her. For several questions to the officials, the answer was always the same: “Wait please, she’ll come in a few minutes”
Of course, I knew that nobody would come. Meanwhile, I forgot about my illness. I turned around and the gentleman from Malaysia was not there anymore. I started to run through the hospital to look for and in the end, I saw them near the exit door, completely finished, the daughter in the arms of the mother, crying altogether.
I knocked on the man’s shoulder and said that they should follow me. Immediately called the next taxi and drove together towards the nearest state hospital.
As I expected, we were only asked for one passport and the surgery started immediately. Not a single penny was asked. I even had the honor to give the little angel my blood. After two hours of surgery, she was taken to a sterile room and I can never forget the parents’ tear of joy.
After a few hours together, I gave my number and left the hospital. The first thing I did was to report this private hospital the next morning to the authorities. They got a heavy fine. And since then I have never visited this hospital or another with the same brand.
However, after 5 days, the girl was released from the hospital. I was there before they went to the airport. When I entered the hospital room, the men asked me to come outside for a few minutes. I was surprised by what he had to say. At that moment he reached into his pocket and offered me a lot of money.
He said: “Harun, here are 15,000 TRY. I know that it can never pay for what you did, but at least something that will do me good. In the end, I wanted to pay that money to the hospital anyway, but it looks like that’s your right.”
I had never been so shy in my life as I was at this moment. No matter how much I defended myself, I could not fight against his request.
But the true miracle happened when we waited in the waiting room for the papers. The girl tore herself from her daddy’s hand, came slowly to me and just sat down on my lap. She had chocolate in her hand. She threw a deep look into my eyes, broke a piece of the chocolate to give me, and whispered something in my ears in her own language that I sadly did not understand.
I asked the father with a curious face what she said. The answer was the biggest gift you can ever get. He answered: “She said, she heard that you gave her your blood, and when you have the same blood, you’re siblings. I’ve always wanted to have a brother to share my chocolate and play, if you do not promise to leave me I always give you some of my chocolate.
I did not know if I should cry at the moment or laugh out loud. tingling on my whole body. I hugged her so tight that she does not feel insecure for her whole life anymore.
It was very hard to put her on the plane later and I could only convince her by promising that I would come to Malaysia soon.
If you ask what I did with the 15,000 TRY? It was exactly two years in my drawer, I could not touch the money because I did not work for it. but somehow it should serve its purpose. Thank god, after two years I had the opportunity to give this money to a needy Afghani family whose daughter had to go through a special surgery and asked for help via social media. She is currently studying law. Believe me, with this money you could do nothing better than to see a young girl at the graduation ceremony.
With honesty, you can not always get something material, but the answer what God sends you in the form of a child’s smile…
…is simply priceless.
And exactly this is the best part of being honest!
Author: Harun Resit Aydin
