Way back in 1996 whilst I was living and working in Cairns, I bumped into a fellow Papua New Guinean who was there for the week doing some shopping with his girlfriend at the time. We exchanged names and numbers and suggested we should catch up before he departed. The very next day he gave me a call, It seemed that he had spent the day at the Cairns Horse races (the Casino was still under construction then)and he had encountered a minor financial problem and was unable to continue to stay at his hotel as a result...
I, of course went and picked the young couple up and brought them home to my place where I immediately offered them my son’s bedroom, relegating my sons to the lounge room floor. That is what we do, as Papua New Guineans’, we always try to help anyone any way we can. They stayed with me for a week and flew back to Port Moresby where he was employed by a Government department.
About a year later I was passing though Port Moresby on my way to Cairns from Mendi where I was working at the time and I bumped into my friend from Cairns, he remembered that I was a mechanic and asked if I could have a look at his car for him if I had time, I happily obliged. A year or two had passed and I was now living and working in Port Moresby and my friend from Cairns would often give me a call to come meet him for drinks on a Friday afternoon at the Waigani Housing Commission Hostel where he resided. I would spend many a Saturday before Rugby at Bava repairing faults he was experiencing with his pride and joy, a Black Toyota Celica that had defiantly seen better days. We would discuss issues of the day and politics, it was then when he told me he was planning on giving it a go, I must admit at the time I didn't think much of it.
He then went on to contest an election, and subsequently failed, we had a couple more drinks together and I fixed a couple more faults with his Celica that was really falling apart by now.He then contested another election and won, I never heard from my friend from Cairns again...
He became a Member of Parliament, then a minister, he was in a different circle now, he no longer required my friendship nor my assistance with accommodation or to fix his car. He had a new car now, several of them.
Time went by and my friend from Cairns became more and more prominent, we crossed paths a few times at Airports and Hotels never even giving me a second glance, my friend from Cairns didn’t even know who I was anymore.
These days I try to ignore and forget such people, as we get older and wiser we appreciate real friendship and try not to hold grudges against those who used us only when they needed us.That said, I couldn't help but smile and have a quiet chuckle to myself yesterday when my friend from Cairns was sentenced to 9 years hard labour.
It first appeared on https://www.facebook.com/smerton
Used with permission
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