I was walking down the street and saw a man alone in a dark corner.
I waved and smiled.
He looked pensive, peaceful, lonely.
He was kicking the dirt under his feet.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Nothing" he said, so I walked away.
The next day, walking down the street, I saw him again in the same corner. The area beneath him raw from his kicking.
"What are you doing?" I asked. "Nothing" he said. Why don't you join the others... come walk with me?" I asked.
"I'm fine right here, a lot of people just like to hang," he said as I kept on walking.
Two days later, same corner... The guys legs were no longer visible as the hole around him was knee deep.
"What are you doing?" I asked. "Just hanging." He said without A lot of energy.
"You are not hanging" I said "You are digging a hole."
"Nah!... you see that guy on 21st avenue? He's got a shovel and you cant even see his head... Me, I am just hanging."
"He is digging a hole" I thought, but it's not a deep one." So, on I went.
A week later I walked past the corner and there was nobody there.
As I got closer I saw a hole and just below the surface the lonely guy's head pacing back and forth...
"How's it going?" I asked with a little concern.
"Fine" he said. "How's the hole?" I asked...
"This ain't no hole! Have you seen the guy on 74th street... He is using a backhoe. He is 50 feet down... You can barely see him... Now -THAT'S a hole!"
"You are in a hole ... it's pretty obvious dude" I thought to myself as I walked on.
A month later I walked by the corner again. No one was there but a few people were looking at something... "How long has he been digging?" They asked each other. "I don't know... but it must be a while."
I walked up to the edge and shouted, "HEY!!! What the hell are you doing?" The guy couldn't hear me.
I shouted louder...
I could still read the letters on his cap...
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" "WHY ARE YOU STILL DIGGING?"
"I'm not digging he shouted... Have you seen the guy on 157th street..." I could not make out the rest.
I realized the question that I kept asking meant something different to me than to him. I wouldn't ask it again.
I sat on the edge and cried a little... then I pushed my butt forward and started sliding into the hole...
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"I'm scared" I said.
"Me too!" I am not sure if I heard him say...
He didn't look peaceful or pensive anymore...
He just looked lonely.
Harmony begets harmony.
Disharmony begets disharmony...
Comparison is a tool of relativity that hurts us much more often than it helps.
Don't just tell me what you think you are doing...
Look honestly at where you where... and then at where you are... then don't tell me, but think for yourself...
Are you digging...
Or are you climbing?
Are you wishing...
or are you wanting?
Nobody but you can MAKE you stop.
...the truth is absolute...
The question is... can you see it? Can you accept it?
I can see love in your eyes & hope in your heart...
The question is...
can you feel them?
heed them?
Let them
in
harmony,
Nestor