Again The Friend
Toronto, Ontario
As she pulled out of the driveway at dusk on Cottingham St. I happened to be there.
"Is this the Big Chief Himself?" she remarked after rolling down the window. I couldn’t make out who it was at first. It was dusk as I said, but I responded, “Well, I’m just a servant of everyone.” As I inched forward I could make out her image. It was my nurse of a year ago who made a daily visit over a foot infection I contracted from a dead catfish. It was she who mentioned on one visit that she had a friend who took to the famous Santiago pilgrimage in Spain. “That friend came out a different person” she said, validating the practice of sacred walking.
In any event, it was a friendly exchange. She always came to visit me with a pleasant demeanour which is a great qualification for a care-giver. Her remark about the “Big Chief”, referring to my “Maharaja”-ness (an honorific address given to a senior monk) was her way of breaking ice. She is expert with people. For me, she reaffirmed the need to give warmth to others. You can learn something from anyone. Everyone whose path you cross has something to offer you. Even the lesson of detachment comes from meeting someone who is obnoxious, for example.
By providence I met my friend as she came out of a driveway (not hers, but a patient’s) to be reminded how kind a human should be. She deals with a lot. When she pokes a needle into someone’s arm the patient says “ouch” and sometimes a much stronger four-lettered word. So she told me. She has to smile through it all.
My friend admired my new pair of crocs (a gift). “Oh, fleece-lined crocs? How nifty!”
“Please come to our centre for some vegetarian food” was my invitation.
“I drive by your temple all the time and I think about your food.”
I encouraged this friend to come to eat food and not just think food.
I hope to meet her again because she’s kind.
10 KM
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