26.12.2025
S: When he died, he said ‘Thank god I have done my duty.’ There is no satisfaction like the satisfaction of duty.
A: Who says? You might have a better life without duty. It can’t be duty all the time.
S: How can you have a moment’s peace or happiness if you haven’t done your duty?
A: What brings this on?
S: I have someone. I feel happy. But I can’t be fully happy until I have fulfilled my duty. I don’t want happiness to take over my responsibilities.
A: Does it have to do that?
S: There is a risk. There is always a risk with duty. Because it is much easier and more convenient not to do your duty. That is what most people do. I do not want to be like them. With me, duty has to come first.
A: Just enjoy your happiness.
S: There is this worry. That this happiness will end.
A: If duty does not make you happy, forget about duty.
S: You know, when we got the news of my grandfather’s death, I had to take the phone call. I was the man in the house. I was the only one that could speak English. I had just been told that my grandfather had died. My beloved grandfather. Do you know the first thing that I had to do? I had to walk over to my grandmother’s house and get her so that we could take care of her and console her. I knew that she would know what had happened when I went there because I had just walked over from her house. I was sleeping over there at the time. I forced myself to walk to her house. I forced myself to pretend that nothing had happened, like I had been told to do. I forced myself to do it. I did it because it was my duty. It was my duty to protect her and look after her so that she was not alone.
A: Don’t think about those moments. They are gone. Forget about them. Heal yourself from those moments.
S: I forced myself to do it. I forced myself to act that part. I did my duty. And every time, I will have to do my duty. It doesn’t matter if I don’t want to do it and it is hard. It doesn’t matter what it costs. I will do it.
diary of a lone man 