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Anima
484 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 25 2013 : 12:39:03 AM
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Hi everyone,
Today, I decided to stop at the hobby store for some markers to touch up a Krishna murti I received. The store was gone, so I went in to a Sprint store to ask about replacing my phone, which the employees would happily do, as long as I were to “pay it forward,” as they say. I thanked them and left.
I found my gaze locked on a small grocery store as I walked directly toward it. I had visited once before and knew they sell murtis and deserts there. I greeted a woman and a man as I entered. Perusing the wares, I was asked by the woman if I needed help. I said I was just looking around. I brought kulfi to the counter and asked for one milk cake. The woman asked me how I was doing. “I’m good,” I said. And then I hesitated before asking how she was doing. “Why bother?!” is my typical thought process.
“I’m sad today,” she told me. I began listening. She related that a person dear to her had died.
More listening—did I hear anything? “I’m sorry,” I said. Something came before me.
“I recently heard a poem at a family friend’s funeral. The priest said: ‘Life is a highway, the milestones are years, and at the end a toll, you pay your way with tears.’” A moment. “There are tears of sadness, and there are tears of joy.”
And then she shared her tears with the Lord. Afraid, I would not surrender mine. Why do I speak?
"I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree... But only God can make a tree." ~Joyce Kilmer
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Bodhi Tree
2972 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2013 : 10:48:33 AM
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I like the way you write, Anima. Your story reminds me of an ee cummings' poem:
(a leaf falls) loneliness
l(a
le
af
fa
ll
s)
one
l
iness
...
On the note of tears, I think crying is like sneezing. When the tears are needed, they will come. Making no effort to either extract or suppress them, the release is experienced as an enjoyable gesture of purification. Naturally, some people hold back tears because it is thought of as a sign of weakness, while others squeeze tears out as if draining a rag. I've been on both ends, but I like allowing them to flow, rather than expecting a certain social response. (I have a family friend that laughed hysterically at her dad's funeral).
It sounds like you created a wonderful opportunity for that woman to release her tears, and I'm sure you will have a similar opportunity when the time is right.
That is a powerful anecdote, and thanks for sharing your contemplative prose. |
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Anima
484 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2013 : 4:22:01 PM
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Thanks, Bodhi Tree,
And I very much enjoy your writing as well. |
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Radharani
USA
843 Posts |
Posted - Jul 26 2013 : 01:18:34 AM
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| what a sweet story! thank you for sharing that. |
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Love and Grief
