Sylvie.

I would see Sylvie, almost everyday, a Czech woman, round and fair, with short hair, always cheerful and a beautiful melodious voice.
I had my own office space in 4th year university, and it was home away from home... away from home. Every day, I'd walk in, throw my things into the cupboards, and rush to class. Sylvie would often come in, take out the garbage, dust here and there, and sometimes stay for a chat. I didn't open up to her as easily as my design project partner, JP did. And that was an awesome thing I adapted from him.
Sylvie would often come in very late too. Sometimes, I'd be in my office overnight, and as I'd walk the hallways while taking breaks, I'd run into her. Our conversations started as regular 'hi' 'hellos'. She was not a very educated lady, but she never failed to smile. I liked talking to her, the way I liked talking to everyone around me. And she liked telling me lots of things that she thought I'd benefit from. It didn't seem that she was married, but she'd talk about the youth in today's world, and her home country, about her life, day to day activities. She was a committed woman, committed to her job. Close to graduation, I'd tell her to keep me in her prayers, and that I'd come back to visit her whenever I'd get a chance. And she'd say she's going to miss me loads. Often, her advice would be motherly, sometimes she'd say I take good care of my brothers( though I think I've a long way to go @ that), although she wasn't a mother, and her advice wasn't quite significant. Yet, she tried to do good where she could do good, and within her capacity, she tried to spread what good she knew.

Everyone is extraordinary in their ways. I realise there's a reason why Allah (swt) has created each and every single individual, and when I meet people along the way in this road of life, I try to understand why they exist. Some people come across as ordinary, because you don't benefit much from them being around you, and then there are others. But if I were to meet and depart without learning lessons from each one of them, that does make my existance quite... ordinary.
If today we begin to look around us with the pure and keen sense of knowing a person, then our world will change for sure. People around us suffer much more than us, yet it doesn't show. We live today as if we've enveloped ourselves and carry our invisible backpack full of troubles. Yet, life is only that difficult, because we make it so.
Simple people around us live good and simple lives- It's visible from the outside. It's often enough for us to stop at that point and realise what else could be a simpler secret to a good life?
Yet, a good life does not mean personal satisfaction. Your personal satisfaction should come from making the lives of these simple people better.
I don't know if I impacted Sylvie's life in anyway, but I do feel good about the relationship we built in my heart, and I do feel great that I took this from JP.