It’s not everyday that I get to feel how I felt today reading this letter. It’s not everyday that I get to feel and know that an action I took to help someone would inadvertently help another person just a few months later in the same way. I can only hope that this Israeli adventurer soon finds herself in a situation where she can repay the gesture to someone else. Pay it forward. We miss you JoMarie.
10 days ago I accompanied Aimee and Kellen to a weekly drum circle that occurs on the beach in the town that I live in. Kellen had been the previous few weeks, and I had been busy on Thursday’s since returning from my summer travels, so I was excited to finally get to experience it. I won’t spend many words describing the drum circle, as it was a drum circle, and I feel like that is self-explanatory. The drumming was great. The company was great. The weather was great. A great time was had.
While there, I met a chef who had just finished her second day of work at the nicest restaurant in my town. It should be said that my town is small but saturated with people, and considering it’s size, it has many food establishments. Over 100 food establishments for a town of 30,000 in 6.5 square miles. That’s quite a bit, especially compared to the last small town I lived in which had around 15 food establishments for a town of 10,000 people. She had had a good second day, all things considered, no complaints. She had been on the island for just over a month. She had been camping on the beaches of Oahu for most of the time she’d been here. She was a chef at the nicest restaurant in one of the nicest towns on the island and she was homeless.
Needless to say she’s been staying in my ample-sized house since that night, on some nights accompanied by her friend/travel-companion/co-chef as well. Why did 1 minimalist man with 1 dog buy a 4 bedroom/2 bathroom house last September? Because if you have room, you will find things to fill it. If you have an aversion to ’stuff’ then you are left to fill it with little else but people. A year ago I lived alone, 1 of 1 (and Maxine), in an attempt to distance myself from everyone and much of what I knew. Today I find myself 1 of 5 (and Maxine), full of great food and exhausted from good times and the energy of great people. I’ve got so much to give.
There is no after-life where I will be rewarded by good deeds in the here-and-now. There is no tax benefit to allowing dream-chasing transients to live with you under your roof. There is no call from a long-dead prophet that I feel the need to answer (or even consider). There is however the guilt of knowing that you didn’t do something when you could. There is that nagging voice that whispers to you in the middle of your sleepless nights that the terrible world in which you live could be so much less terrible if everyone put their words into action. There is the truth that you get what you put out. Be generous in ways you can, put out your heart, and you just might get one back. If not, coconut curry risotto with sauteed tofu/eggplant/sweet potatoes/asparagus is a close second.
