Hopes and Dreams

by Fazeel Chauhan

(Published in Pakistan Link  ~ 1-22-92)

Younus came to the U. S. two years ago as a foreign student, to get a bachelors degree in civil engineering. He came here in search of hope, opportunity and a better life. But his plans were altered due to a strange twist of fate. He recently had a brush with death when he was shot two times.
His parents almost lost their only son. He had come to the U. S. for higher education upon his father's recommendation. After graduation, Younus had planned to work here for a while and then hopefully land a job in the middle east, that paid well. His father had sold some property to get enough money to send him over. He continued to financially support Younus as much as he could, but the expenses were too great. So Younus decided to start working here.
He applied for a working permit to get a part time job so he could partially support himself. For a while, he worked in the campus library but was paid close to minimum wage. Then, a few months ago, he found another job at a liquor store, working as a security guard. His job was to guard the liquor store at night. He expected it to be an easy job. The hours were great and he would also be able to do his schoolwork at his job. Besides, the pay check at the end of the week would be a little bigger.
A couple of weeks ago, the incident took place while he was at work. He had stepped outside the store for a few minutes. When he walked back in, he saw a man robbing the cashier at gun point. The robber was startled when he saw the security guard walk in and he panicked. He turned around and shot at Younus three times with his hand gun. He missed only once. Two of the bullets hit Younus and he fell to the ground, screaming in agony and pain. The robber snapped the few dollars from the cash register and ran out the door.
Younus lay on the ground in a pool of blood, his life flashed before his eyes. He screamed in pain, disoriented and shocked at what had just taken place. The cashier, tried to comfort him while they waited for the ambulance and police to arrive. The police was unable to find the gunman, he had escaped. The paramedics worked fast, trying to stop the bleeding at the two wounds. Younus was in bad shape as the ambulance rushed to the hospital. The first bullet had hit him in the ribs, two inches below his heart. The other one went through his right thigh.
The doctors told him later that if he had arrived at the operating table half an hour later, he would not have survived. But he was very lucky and they were able to save his life. He was in intensive care for a few days and eventually his condition stabilized. He's at home now, but still confined to his bed, as he recovers. He still can't believe that this happened to him. It was totally unexpected. Still in shock he wonders why this happened to him and how he could have avoided it. He had done nothing to hurt the gunman. He just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Younus is going back to Pakistan in a few days so that his family can take care of him. They are worried and scared. They want him to come back home and forget all about America. Younus is a fighter though, he says he'll come back to finish his studies, as soon as he's recovered. I don't know how he will rationalize what happened to him. How will he deal with the incident? And what about the gunman? What was his motivation? How does he live with himself, knowing that he almost killed another human being?

Some times I wonder, why bad things happen to good people. Younus was a good person. All he wanted was to be able to live a better life. He didn't want to hurt anybody. We all have our dreams and we all make our plans. But behind the veil, there are unknown forces that have their own plans for us, leaving us with too many unanswered questions