It is spring, you were four individuals from Pakistan, exploring the scenic "bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond", as the song goes. Our conversation started with the weather, but soon our lives intertwined. We shared more than life's challenges could diminish.
Like my wife and I, you held strong moral values, and I felt at ease in your company. You were all well-educated and at the peak of your lives with promising careers ahead. What struck me was the desire you had to talk to a man over twice your age, but you came from a culture who still holds the aged in high esteem; may God bless you. I should have exchanged emails, but the owl of Minerva flies at dusk as the expression goes. And in life’s great cosmic adventure, we may meet again.
*****
There are moments through the march of time that dance and shimmer in our in our heads and hearts and rise at unexpected moment like the Northern Lights. The psychologist Abraham Maslow coined the phrase, peak experiences to describe such memories. Awe- inspiring in their scope, they reach the deepest parts of our soul, defining who we are. Moments that create self-awareness. Humorous events that impart wisdom. Spontaneous acts of extraordinary human kindness. Elliptical and incomplete, they interrupt life’s plot…they just happen. And that’s the way it should be.
Strangers on the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond
Image of Loch Lomond by https://unsplash.com/@garyellisphoto
It is spring, you were four individuals from Pakistan, exploring the scenic "bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond", as the song goes. Our conversation started with the weather, but soon our lives intertwined. We shared more than life's challenges could diminish.
Like my wife and I, you held strong moral values, and I felt at ease in your company. You were all well-educated and at the peak of your lives with promising careers ahead. What struck me was the desire you had to talk to a man over twice your age, but you came from a culture who still holds the aged in high esteem; may God bless you. I should have exchanged emails, but the owl of Minerva flies at dusk as the expression goes. And in life’s great cosmic adventure, we may meet again.
*****
There are moments through the march of time that dance and shimmer in our in our heads and hearts and rise at unexpected moment like the Northern Lights. The psychologist Abraham Maslow coined the phrase, peak experiences to describe such memories. Awe- inspiring in their scope, they reach the deepest parts of our soul, defining who we are. Moments that create self-awareness. Humorous events that impart wisdom. Spontaneous acts of extraordinary human kindness. Elliptical and incomplete, they interrupt life’s plot…they just happen. And that’s the way it should be.