The Master said,
“Even when walking in the company of two other men,
I am bound to be able to learn from them.
The good points of the one I copy;
the bad points of the other I correct in myself.”

Analects of Confucius - Book 7, Chapter 22
(Translated by D.C. Lau)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was eavesdropping on conversations on my stroll down the boardwalk this morning. Everything is out of context so it’s fun to plug in your own. Here, try:

“He just dropped off a huge duffle bag full of beer and left for Vietnam!”

(I say Bruce Sprinsteen before they “sent me off to a foreign land to go and kill the yellow man.”)

“I don’t wanna remember him like this, you know? I think I’m just gonna put him down.”

(After this kick of serial killer shows, my mind jumped to the assumption she meant her husband.)

The two people I’d like to focus on regarding the above quote, though, was a man who was on the telephone before the sun had even lit up the sky, yelling into the phone saying, “He’s drivin’ me up a fuckin’ wall!”

The juxtaposition between this guy and the conversation I had with the most attractive homeless gal I’ve ever seen a couple hours later was incredible.

(I’ll just pause to acknowledge the description of this latter party for a moment, because I’m sure it stirred up some questions in your mind. Seeing her when I first approached, you never would have guessed it with the stylish outfit she was wearing. She surprised me with this fact soon into our conversation and I was shocked. Anyway…)

Homeless Gal, despite her circumstance, had the utmost positive outlook on life and God. She had found herself in this situation after escaping a domestic violence situation and managed to keep a job as she floated around. I was floored by her optimism about how God must’ve made her homeless for a reason.

Meanwhile, Angry Phone Guy probably had a nice warm bed to wake up in every morning and a hot shower to go home to every night, yet before the day had even begun he was all fired up with anger.

The contrast between these two people really put things in perspective because I’ve also woken up in a comfy bed ready to burn down the world. From now on, anytime I’m even remotely close to that attitude, I plan to reflect on Homeless Gal and make sure I adopt her state of mind.

Thanks for the inspiration, HG 🙏