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The Cobbler

I lived in China during most of my childhood, and I remembered there was a cobbler on the corner of my street. He was an old man in his sixties, his hair a silvery-white colour; his teeth marked the cost of excess alcohol and cigarettes; his eyes just about opened, showing signs of old-age and weariness. The scruffy appearance and meagre shirt makes him look even more fragile and poor; his twiglike body is like a skeleton, scarcely supporting his delicate body. Merely a worthless bicycle and a few common tools – nails, few scraps of leather, shoe polish, glue, some needles and threads, form most part of his trivial stall.

This cobbler is disabled, his right leg is paralysed and he can barely move his left to walk. But yet he struggle here every morning from his council house, and set up his trifling stall on my street corner. Then in the evening, he would, again, resting on his rusted bicycle, contentedly walks back to his negligible “home”.

It’s already been a few years now, and everyday I see this old man, he is always smiling; and every time I look at him, my brain pictures: “It must be really hard to make a living as a cobbler.” One day, I walked pass this old man and sympathy stroke me. Out of the blue, I remembered I have a pair of school shoes hidden under my bed that I haven’t worn in ages, maybe I can give it to him; see what he can do with it. And I said to myself: “I will give him however much he asks for. No! I will give him more. Yes, I ought to give him more.” So I went back home, grabbed the pair of shoes along with my lifesavings and ran back down to bring them to the old man.

“Is this urgent?” The cobbler raised his head and asked me with a hospitable voice.
“No… no… you take your time, I am fine waiting.” I hastily replied.

So he took the shoes and began repairing it. I looked at his hands, they are dry and dusty, and there are plasters on most of the fingers. But his thick, sooty hand seemed so flexible as he threads through the needle hole and into my shoe.

“Kid, do well at school, it will become useful one day! Don’t let your parents down, but most importantly, don’t let yourself down!” He said, just as any old Chinese people would say to the younger generations.

“Alright! There you go” The old man shoved the shoes back into my hands after he finished mending them. So I, without delay, dug into my pocket and got out the one Yuan [2] which I brought with me. “Oh no! Kid, how much are you giving me?” said the old man who seemed surprised. “A few cents will do, that will cover the cost. I can’t charge so much from a child who don’t know how to earn money yet. You should save that money and buy books, gain more knowledge, grow up to be a successful man, that’s what I wish.” The old man persisted.

So at the end, I had to give him just a few cents, as he would not accept any more. As I complainingly walked away, the old man knew what was on my mind – that I pity him – so he said to me: “Hey kid, remember this - Don’t let anyone look down on you, because you are young, but instead, through sweat and blood, work hard towards your goal and never give up until you reached there. Don’t end up where I am now.”

As soon as he said that, I realised that he is not a beggar, but a very respectable man, a knowledgeable man who cares for people.

When I went home that day, dinner is ready and the whole family ate cheerfully together, and then I went to bed at 8. The next day when I went pass my street, the cobbler was no longer there, no one knew where he went. After all, he was just an insignificant old man.

After all these years, those words muttered by the cobbler stayed in my memory, and now I finally realised the real meaning: Nothing can replace hard-work and determination, only they will make one truly successful. This lesson, for me, is the Greatest Gift of all, because this gift has reshaped all of me, made me who I am today. And this greatest gift is not physical thing like computers and money, for they will fade away; this Greatest Gift is the one that will stay with me always and guide me through my life.