8th
Sunday
After
Pentecost
 

 

Four o’clock in the afternoon and I am mindlessly driving home from work while Pandora is set to my Beatles station and is blasting on my car radio.  I make the quick right turn merge from Paul Cantrell Blvd to Magwood and sit in a long line of stop and go traffic.  Pandora throws in some strange selections from artists I don’t quite remember so I hit the thumbs down icon and the next song start to play. 
 
“There are places I remember all my life though some have changed....”   I am daydreaming while sitting behind the wheel waiting for the light when I notice an older gentleman dressed in khaki Bermuda shorts  and a pale blue T struggling to walk with his cane......dog by his side obediently, patiently and quite lovingly pacing himself to his master’s gait.  The human spirit never ceases to amaze me striving to keep moving forward even with a body which belies the will...
 
In the opposite direction a man comes into view  on what at  first appears to be a bicycle/carriage of sorts.  As he approaches I realize it’s just a bike but it is so burdened by the large number of filled plastic bags tied to it and hanging off of it it looks like a small Volkswagen Beetle.  He has the disheveled look of a homeless man sporting a rather long and bushy slightly yellowed gray beard.  As he nears the man with the cane he slows to a stop propping his bike on one leg while remaining on the seat. 
 
“Some forever not for better....Some have gone and some remain.”  The two men face each other and begin to exchange words.  I frown as I wonder if these two individuals know each other.  With such contrast in their appearances  they tell the  story of two very different paths their lives have taken.  The bearded man on the bike reaches down and starts to pet the dog as they chat.  The dog melts into the man’s rather large unkept hand.  The man pulls the dog into the side of his leg as he caresses the dog’s head and starts to stoke the pooch from the top of his head down the length of the pup to his tail.  The dog is putty and puppy eyed with love for this stranger as the man’s wrinkled face relaxes and his tense narrow brow and eyes widen with emotion.....the corners of his mouth inching upward.
 
“All these places have their moments with lovers and friends I still can recall...”   The gentlemen with the cane stands frozen with a soft smile on his face as he watches this lonely man so starved for any kind of contact, draw the energy of love and acceptance from his dog and pleased with the spot of comfort he is providing to this complete stranger.  I realize that as I am locked in this moment half daydreaming half lost in this exchange and with the Beatles providing the soundtrack,  I now have tears streaming down my cheeks.  I am rather surprised by this and then it hits me.  Two people.....two complete strangers from two very different worlds make a connection on the street and without knowing each other or what their belief’s are, they exchange pleasantries with one extending human kindness and the other seeking comforting contact from a dog ......this  moment....this snippet of a day wrapped in a time when the whole world is at odds and angry with itself and people with each other and the irony of the juxtaposition of these two occurrences was not lost to me resulting in a rush of emotion.  Human kindness shines through.....
 
The light changes and it is time for me to go.....”Some are dead and some are living.....In my life I’ve loved them all.”
 
In the end....only kindness matters.