Posted by Bill Ryan
(here)
--------
Dear All:
Richard has already shared a moving personal story about the
Butterfly Lady. I do recommend that you read it.
Charles has also shared
a profound experience that changed him. Please also read this.
I'd like to join Richard and Charles by telling a story of my own. It's a simple story which I've never shared except with my closest friends.
In 1989 I was in Nairobi for a couple of weeks. I was staying in a small guest house a couple of miles from the city center.
Every day I walked down the long road to the post office and market, and walked back. And every day I passed a beggar who was sitting on a dirty blanket at a street corner.
This man's arms and legs were shriveled. He could not walk. He wore a loincloth. He sat on the ground, and crawled around on his blanket. He had nothing at all.
But each time I passed by - twice a day for 14 days - he was surrounded by people. They were laughing, joking, having fun. The little beggar-man was
always happy. His face was permanently wreathed in smiles. This was where the party was at, all the time, every day.
He was the man. I never once saw him other than enjoying life to the full. His friends - many of them - clearly loved him dearly.
This experience changed me profoundly. Every day I wondered at this man and his friends. One of my greatest regrets is that I never approached him to say hello.
Ten years later, I returned to Nairobi. I tried hard to find him. I wanted to give him something to thank him for his great contribution to my life. I could not. I assume he had died.
I can never tell this story on stage or in an interview: I would not be able to keep it together. That little man, bless his eternal soul, taught me that one does not have not have things to be happy: one only has to create one's own joy with the people one loves. In the context of this, little else matters.