A Lesson in Humility

Day 451 – I went today to meet someone I met few months ago on one of the dating sites. He was in a relationship at the time and later I was so it didn’t really work back then but he contacted me few days ago and suggested we’d meet. I said that I am not really emotionally available right now and he said he’s in the same place but we are both free, so why won't we go for a hike or something. So that's what we did. He wrote on his profile that he has limited eye sight and he can’t drive, but in the same time that he is a surgeon so I was intrigued, of course how it can work. What I found is a very nice man and a very sad story. He got badly injured several years ago in a suicide bomb attack and lost one eye and has only partial sight in his other eye. And yet the man found in him the strength to get back on his feet and to try to make sense of all that. To try to build an alternative to a very successful career that was cut from one moment to the next. 

So we went hiking and it was so nice. It’s still spring and there were so many flowers in this little nature preserve and I was amazed time and again how he enjoys every little thing – view, wild flowers, and animals around. He is learning alternative medicine such as meditation and hypnosis and he did guided meditation with me in that beautiful setting; and it was perfect; just the sound of wind and the birds around. I was still very sad and the few questions he asked about that brought me to the brink of tears, but after I got home I started thinking about the day and I came to some very interesting conclusions. Those petty worries are a privilege. When something really important to us is at stake nothing else matter, we forget about the world around. I can be sad right now about this very short relationship that was more in my head than real I guess, just because I have nothing more important to worry about. And this is something I should be very thankful for. What a comforting thought. 

I am thankful I met this man; I don’t know if we can be in a relationship but I sure want to have him as a friend. I am so thankful for this important lesson in humility in the face of unimaginable odds he taught me today.  I am thankful I got to spend my day hiking in nature instead of at home, that I was happy most of the day and only for a few minute really sad. I am thankful I am so privileged as to worry about a broken heart, and not about more serious things; I can only hope that my life will be so blessed that only these kind of hurts will bring tears to my eyes.