Zen-rendipity...

This past weekend, I walked the grounds of the library. Four small boulders embedded in the wild grass made up the rock garden. On one of the boulders, a plaque dedicated to the sister city of Warabi, Japan. The plaque was signed, "From people to people."

Even in this, our healing place, where we find ourselves at One with God, there can still be moments of struggle. At the market, a specific chain of events led the man behind the register, and his friends, to ridicule me. I remained silent but polite. I gave him money for the bread and tomatoes. I looked at his friends, and did my best to project a common humanity. This only made them laugh harder. I walked away towards the sunshine, and the breeze. But, I did feel anger. I wanted to vent that anger, and imagined acting out, perhaps even roaring where the wild things are! Temptation is not necessarily our true friend. As I seethed, I happened to see one of my neighbors! "Hello, Beatrice!" I smiled, and she smiled back. That was all it took. I chose to focus on Beatrice. She spoke of the changes in her circumstances. In her eighties, she has seen events in history unfold before her eyes. She spoke of her health issues. I was so grateful to her, I could have hugged her! Beatrice saved me from falling into a venomous pit. God was using this wonderful human being to remove me from myself, and to show me what really matters. Sadly, there will always be those who perhaps due to ignorance, or frustration, may give in to their own temptation to hurt others. It is easy to be cruel. This is true. It takes great courage and strength to love, and embrace the perceived other.

Beatrice and I boarded the whistle-stop express, and to my utter delight, two other neighbors were seated inside! Norton, and Blythe liked to ride together. Blythe's memory was fading. Years, places, names no longer held any sway over Blythe. She was transitioning. Her son avoided her. Perhaps, compassion was not his forte? Before Norton, Blythe would sit by her window for hours, lost in emptiness. But, now, Norton came to Blythe's door each morning, and the two of them would embark on a daily adventure of people watching. All four of us, Beatrice, Norton, Blythe and I laughed, and talked in sing-song rhythm. We felt happiness in one another!

I thought of that rock garden earlier in the day. "People to people", read the plaque, amidst the long, green grass, moss, and lichen on the stone.