A Conversation

 

He looked quite worried when he started talking to me. May be worried is the wrong word. May be concerned or apprehensive or even lost would be better words to describe his demeanor.

 

"I've been told that I have cancer and will be dying soon, may even be sooner than they have given me.  As if they are God, for heavens sake!  How the hell do they know when I will or should die?  They are only doctors, and they all seem to be a third of my age, as young as my grandchildren.  

They have given me only weeks to live. May be they know. 

 

"Don't want to impose on you and bore you or make you feel sorry for me.  No not at all, I'm not that kind of man. No sirree, not me.  But you see, I just left the hospital and was given the deadly news and I'm in shock, you could say.  Dammit man, in my day doctors didn't just come out and say you were going to die, and in just a few weeks, to boot. They were kinder, gentler, more humane. Now they seem not to care. There is always another patient in the next cubical they need to rush to.

 

"Am I boring you? I hope not, I'm just thinking aloud, that's all.  I know you want to get back to your smartphone, reading your emails and such,  but let me tell you this, because it is important. I was not born with a bald head and a face full of wrinkles. I was once young like yourself, a handsome fellow I may say. But what I want to say is that when I look back, I can't see how, or why so fast, that handsome fellow got so old and decrepit, that's all.  What I want to really say is that life is way too short. I've heard this said so often when I was a lad, and I didn't listen or if I did, I didn't understand what it meant. It was as if it was spoken in a foreign language.

 

" It's so funny that youth seems to be immune to realities of life, removed from what lays in front of him, the road that leads him to his old age and all the pain and difficulties that that journey will pile up on his shoulders, weighing him down and in the end, well, It is sad but true that death will be there to receive him with open arms, and only at that instance, will he attempt to recall his journey, the long, painful and yet so ephemeral."

 

"Death is for everyone. We are all travelers on this one-way road and sooner or later we have no choice but to succumb." I cut in to give the old man some comfort.

 

"No man is old enough to die and don't forget that, young man. I don't know you and I don't know your habits or how you conduct your life, but no man is old enough to die.  Now that I've said that, I must confess that some people are dead while they are seemingly alive.  They breathe and eat and go about their daily lives but in reality they are as good as dead.  You see, it is your spirit that needs to be alive. It is your spirit that feeds and fuels your thoughts and your body and not the other way around. Live for today and you'll forever live, that's what I believe and practice.  So please don't feel sorry for me.  I've lived a long life and my spirit has served me right.  Now that my time is up, my children and their children's sprits will carry them on their journey."

 

The train stopped and the old man looked at me with a sweet smile and said, "my short journey with you, my friend, has also come to an end. This is my stop. Thank you for listening.  People don't listen to other people any more. They all seem to be busy listening to music and such on their phones. I enjoyed talking to you. Thank you for listening."

 

He alighted from the train and was gone but his spoken words lingered on.

 

 

March 26, 2013