The sign read: Great Advice, only $.50.
He was a younger man, slightly slumped in his Venice Beach bench. Ironically, his black skin shone white in the bright California sun. Yet his eyes were incredibly dark, like pools of a melting 75% cacao chocolate bar. As I dug through my multiple pockets, I found a quarter, nickel and some dimes. Walking over to him, I struck out my curled palm over his dark hand and let the silver coins drip from white to black.
“Have a seat,” he said, and I seated myself slightly angled toward him. “What would you like advice on my friend?”
“I’m not really sure. Work… love… the pursuit of happiness… life.”
He smirked and slumped a little more, shaking his head.
I smiled at myself, “No advice on generality?”
“No one is special. No one is better than another. No one is smarter. No one is dumber. No one is prettier and no one is dumber. No one is richer and no one is poorer. We all have a brain. We all have a heart. We all have lungs. We breathe the same air. We live on the same land. We work on the same land. We use the same time. We use the same money. We buy the same things. We eat the same food and we drink the same water. We are all the same. No one is better. No one is special.”
“But doesn’t the way we utilize our time, money and land distinguish ourselves from one another?” I asked skeptically.
“Name one thing you have done with your time that no one else has thought to do. You think you are different because you took the time to travel here, look around you, 85% of these people are visitors. You think you are different because you spent your money from my advice while most walk past, stay all day and you will see 50 people who spent their money exactly like you. You think you are different because you own or rent property, look around you 99% of these people own or rent property and about 98% of them have more than you. You. Are. Not. Special.”
“Do you say this out of bitterness or enlightenment?”
He gave me a curious glance. “I say this out of reality.”
“Are you different?”
“No.”
I turned and looked forward toward the sidewalk cafe filled with people just like me. On the same vacation from our same life consuming jobs, eating the same food I ate an hour ago. Drinking the same water, paying with the same money, taking the same time.
“You see. No difference.”
“Well, thanks for the.. uh… advice,” I hedged.
“See you my friend.”
As I walked away I tried to gain a perspective on his words. I think ultimately he was speaking of humility. Treat others as yourself. A trait few use and even fewer have. Beautiful, quiet humility.
Wow. I like this guy. But I love you and your writing more. Thanks for the update!
And you’re right, it’s not that you’re NOT special, it’s more that we don’t allow ourselves to peer at the world and respect the fact that it is ultimately because of them that you are anything at all… for if you were alone, what would be the point of doing anything?
Humility rocks
Comment by Sesquipedalien — January 6, 2009 @
Wow, hello.
That was fascinating–it’s all true, but there’s also the flip side, which is equally true.
. . . One must get past a lot of junk to see reality in its simplicity. That man is rare, and people like you who take the time to hear him are rare. Sometimes I think that different is the true normal.
It takes either a lot of pride or a lot of humility to be genuinely different–and to be ordinary.
Thanks
Comment by Tigerlily — January 11, 2009 @
My sister told me to come read this ~ It’s a good post! And I learned lots from it. I think my sister was trying to make a point to me when she told me to come read this. I’m not sure I got HER point, but I got a good point.
Thanks!
Comment by Natasha Towns — January 13, 2009 @
I know you were in Venice Beach. I know there was a man offering advice. But you never talked with him. These are your thoughts. Beautiful thoughts.
Comment by TeaW2 — March 25, 2009 @