The Right Questions
Toronto, Ontario
"Excuse me, sir," said the man at such a time (3 a.m.). I stopped.
"Thank you for treating me like a person," he went on as he reached out for a handshake.
I reciprocated and was poised to listen. He carried on speaking.
"I'm a homeless person for a couple of hours..."
"Oh, for a couple of hours? And you want some money to spend for a couple of hours until you're no longer homeless?" I smacked with some sarcasm. "No thanks," I added.
As I walked away at his reputed sleeze section of Yonge St. and chanted on my meditation beads, I thought the guy to be at least a portion honest, admitting to not being full time "homeless". I also began to think, "Wouldn't it be nice if he could just ask the right question?"
Instead of "can you spare a little change?" perhaps we could revert to something that could bear more substance. Questions such as "What is life all about? Why am I here? Who am I really?" would be true refreshing inquiries.
If all we really crave for in life is a beer, drugs, a coffee or wearing cool jeans, we are missing the point. If our questions circle around such trivial matters, what good do we hope to achieve?
I suppose one of the most gripping set of questions that are meaningful came from Sanatan Goswami, a government person who turned monk. He approached with all humility the great Chaitanya expressing openly that he was learned, well-read, established, well-off, but he didn't know his true identity. He started asking relevant questions seeking answers that would make a transformational difference in his life.
Some of the part and full-time homeless as well as home owners might do well to explore the right questions to ask and eventually through the mature response gain hope and look at the world from a different perspective.
5 KM
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