Masamba is a town in Luwu Utara Regency. It’s famous for sawit (palm oil), cacao, and jengkol. When my colleague and I went there for a business trip, we took a flight first to Makassar, then continued with a sleeper bus to Masamba. The sleeper bus serves a seat compartment so we can sleep and enjoy the trip comfortably. Because the sleeper bus departs at night, we can rest and sleep during the trip and reach our destination the next morning. We were excited to have a fun trip to Masamba before it became a disaster.
Buying a sleeper bus ticket should be easy and safe as long as you know where to buy and who the agent is. We opened the bus website and connected to the agent. We chose the sleeper seat (they also offered the regular seat) and paid the price. The agent then gave us the photo of our ticket, with my name, the bus schedule, and the price. Everything was okay, although if I think now, we should be suspicious of that ticket. But we were glad to have the ticket and moved to the next agenda that afternoon. It was not until we went to the bus terminal at eight pm that we realized the ticket was fake.
The front officer dispelled our ticket (which was actually the photo of the ticket!) and said our contact was not their agent. We were shocked. When we tried to call the agent, there was no response. The fraudster erased our communication, and no one knew where he or she was. At the end, we had to buy tickets again. As the bus departed, my colleague could not hold back and blurted angrily, “Nasty man!” to the fake agent.
As I recall, I rarely collided with fraud. Of course, I felt pity when it happened. But, unexpectedly, the experience reminded me of the book I brought along this trip. It was Paulo Coelho The Devil and Miss Prym. The book is about the battle between the good and the bad sides of us. Are we truly good or being pushed to be a good one because we are afraid to do bad things? If you were poor and somebody offered you gold for doing something bad, could you accept the offering? A gold that can change the life of you and your family forever is something worth it! Do you think you can take the action?
In my life, I am bestowed with many opportunities and choices, free to live as I want. Even with such a fortunate life, the good does not always win in the battle of the angel and the devil in my heart. In this world, many people struggle with their lives. Many times, they face situations where all choices are bad. Life is just unfair, even if you do nothing. That’s sad.
Back to my story, I’d rather feel pity than anger with the fake agent. What kind of life does he through? Can he bear all the troubles that come so that he can be a good person? Is life really hard, so that he only has bad choices? May God give him a family, a friend, a stranger who leads him to win the battle of the angel and the devil in his heart. Ameen.
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