“Dad, your drivel is so sad” my daughter says.
Dammit. She’s right. I have a tendency to dwell in low places. So I hope to go in a slightly different direction. I’d like to talk about a foundational belief I have that is absolutely unshakeable. Almost all of my relationships are with people who share this belief.
Its simply this, that the best of us are disguised in this life under a cloak of strife and struggle.
That the people we worship and reward may be great but the greatest amongst us are not the sports heroes or rock stars. These people have God given abilities. In a Capitalistic world we tend to value people by measures like net worth, home size and location or the car they drive.
I have spent a lifetime finding Kings in low places. I’d like to talk about a couple of them. I won’t use their real names.
Carl: I love to swim. Every week I swim 3-6 times. My daughter taught me all the strokes. Even the complicated butterfly. But I’ve never had the courage to try the butterfly stroke when there is other swimmers. This was when I met Carl. Carl has some cognitive disabilities that makes him socially awkward. He does not have the hand eye coordination an average person has. I was sitting on the pool deck when he jumped in. I watched as his arms and chest popped out of the water and he dove back in with a dolphin kick executing an awful but awe inspiring butterfly. He pounded out 75 meters before he stopped. I have never been so inspired by an athlete. I felt like I had just witnessed something great and indeed I had. From that moment on, no matter how bad I do it, I always try a lap in butterfly. I look awful and don’t care, it feels amazing and it’s thanks to Carl. I’ve watched in person almost all the great hockey players from Gretzky to Mcdavid. Carl’s butterfly was greater. Inspired me more. We talk all the time now. Whenever I’m scared to try something I think of Carl and do it.
Richard: I met Richard in a bar just outside of Kelowna. We talked all night long. I hung onto his every word, everything he said had substance. He was the smartest guy I have ever spoken with. We talked about all the great things in life. Love, family, Integrity. I’d buy a drink he’d buy a drink. His wife had passed awy a few years ago and his kids had moved on. We eventually were kicked out, it was past closing time. It was only then did I realize his situation..
“Well Tristram, I better go to my room.”
”Where’s your room?”
he shrugged and pointed to the ditch.
“I’ll buy you a room” I said thinking of all the drinks he’d bought me, advice he’d given me.
“No” he replied, “one night in a room will make all the other nights in the ditches colder”
We chatted further, he had started on the East Coast and was walking across Canada, had been homeless for months. He called weeks later and left a message, he said how much he enjoyed meeting me. The pleasure was all mine. I live by his words to this day. I’ve never met anyone like him since. That night I drank with a King.
I can tell you hundreds of interactions I have had like this. I seek them out. I can find them every where. Like water, the best of humanity is right in front of our noses while we glorify people who have things. Hard times build strength and character. So I just look for those that have been dealt the 2/7 off suit hand of life. These people do life with an unassuming manner and are devoid of ego and arrogance. They are often intelligent beyond belief. I’ve had far more intelligent conversations with homeless people than I’ve had in other social settings.
The best of us feel too much, hurt too much. They will often try to ease their pain in destructive ways. They give till they hurt and then they give some more. They often self destruct. They are originals. Kings and Queens in our midst.
Its intolerable to me how we have cast aside these people as a society. We read garbage books like the “secret” that tell us what we deserve and how it’s ok to have everything while others struggle. By all means work hard and have goals, but stop looking down on those without as if they didn’t try, weren’t positive enough. In all likelyhood they are smarter, funnier and could outwork you. It’s just somewhere along the line life took something from them and they don’t have what it takes to get it back at the moment.
While I believe strongly in hard work and personal responsibility what I loathe about Capitalism is it breeds this attitude that somehow if we work hard we are more deserving. We forget about the sick, the wounded and struggling. We judge anyone that is struggling, its such bullshit.
It is my firm belief one day these people will get the credit they deserve. We will walk into heaven, and the man and woman that had nothing, will be given everything. In my heaven these people will lead us. I think it’s one of the most beautiful things in life. The simple fact that GREATNESS is around us, it is humble, accessible, and often serving us under our noses. Look down and you’ll see the greatest people in the World.
Beggars will be Kings.
If you read this far thank you,
Tris
Tristram's Blog 