This Story reflects the sentiment of the people in Mali very well...
"Two old African men were sitting on that bench, but there was room for
me, too. In Africa people share more than just water in a brotherly or
sisterly fashion. Even when it comes to shade, people are generous.
I heard the two men talking about a third old man who had recently died.
One of them said, “I was visiting him at his home. He started to tell
me an amazing story about something that had happened to him when he was
young. But it was a long story. Night came, and we decided that I
should come back the next day to hear the rest. But when I arrived, he
was dead.”
The man fell silent. I decided not to leave that bench until I heard how
the other man would respond to what he’d heard. I had an instinctive
feeling that it would prove to be important.
Finally he, too, spoke.
“That’s not a good way to die — before you’ve told the end of your story.”
By HENNING MANKELL The Art of Listening. Published: December 10, 2011
(http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/opinion/sunday/in-africa-the-art-of-listening.html?_r=3&src=me&ref=general)
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