Life is about relationships, about the road you travel and the people along it. Some walk with you for a lifetime and you on their road. Others it is a blip of time, a short skip down the paved road or a long trudge through the mud. I have worked in a coffee shop setting for about four years of my life and have had many people walk with me for short legs of the road.
Daily characters are one of the best parts of working in a coffee shop. The regulars walk in and you already have their drink made up. They sit at the counter and you exchange a long moment in one another's day and establish a bizarre camaraderie of sorts.
Then there are moments like today in which you are challenged and inspired by conversation with your coffee camrade.
I came to work not to work but to write a paper on a United States Supreme Court civil rights case for my Political Science class. After being there for four hours I had completed one paragraph that will surely need revision. Although my day lacked studious success it was filled with beautiful contemplation, all thanks to one of my favorite Daily Characters.
He sat down next to me a gave me that look of "you're hanging out at work?'. Somehow we rather quickly came to the topic of dreams. Since moving to Klamath almost every night has housed a dream. Upon sharing my strange dreaming state he said "when you dream like that each night it makes you wonder if you ever really sleep. I fly in mine and I own a spaceship that was given to me by aliens that look like humans."
At this point I set my laptop down and was all ears.
"You see it is like a time machine where I can type in any age I want and then I become that age for the remainder of the dream."
Our dream musing then morphed into the topic of the meaning of life and why we are here. He shared his first encounter with death, a kayaking trip in the grand canyon. At one point his old but vivacious eyes welled with tears "... the pull of gravity, the beating of your heart pulsing in your chest is all gone. Have you ever been in a group hug of people you really care about? That is how it felt. I was surrounded by hundreds of people from life that cared about me and I was weightless, being lifted up to a beam of light For the first time I felt completely accepted and loved for who I was. "
I was so used to this old man's comical spirit that the tears in his eyes caught me by surprise.
He continued the story, which was quite riveting, and then gave a pensive pause.
He continued the story, which was quite riveting, and then gave a pensive pause.
"You know, a few years later it hit me why we are each here. Simply to love and to treat our fellow man with care."
From his story it was so obvious that he had been given a second chance at life. And I realized we shared such a similar outlook on life but it stemmed from two different sources. Mine from the God I feel so intimately connected to, and his from a nameless source that drives him to action. We truly are here for a deeper intention:
To Love and Care for Those Around Us.
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| Beautiful little girls in Haiti-you can learn a lot about love from those who have little |
Our conversation on purpose and life continued on for another hearty hour. The coffee shop was at closing time so he got up with a grin. "It has been an honor to know you kid, even for just a short time." And with that he grabbed his coffee, gave a wave and walk out the door. Since then my head has been swirling with thoughts of dreams and visions, the spirit that lies within people, the purpose and peace found in both life and death.
Daily Characters. Oh how many I've met, how many stories I have heard-they will have to wait for another time. Right now I have enough pondering to do, I think a spot of star gazing will help me work some of these thoughts out.
