A Person Who Interests Me

This past Christmas and New Years, my wife Caroline and I went to Bogota, Colombia to visit her family down there.  To pass the time on the plane, I brought a recent gift from my sister-in-law, Sally - a book called "643 Things to Write About."  This is a note book, full of 643 prompts, ranging from things like "You are a pirate.  Describe your perfect day" to things like "A tree from the point of view of one of its leaves."  I love this book so much, and had fun writing on the plane.

When we arrived, Caroline's Uncle Juampa saw the book and started flipping through it.  Jokingly, he marked the prompt "Choose a person who interests you.  Write about the following person home" and slipped in a note that said "Uncle Juampa!"  Never one to let a challenge go unmet, I decided that before we left, I would do just that.

Not surprisingly, by the end of the trip, he genuinely interested me and I grew very fond of him.  So here is the bit that I wrote on Uncle Juampa - the examples below are experiences we had while we were there.

"Few people have the distinction of being known as a walking experience.  A simple walk with this kind of person will leave you wiser, calmer, and happier than you would have thought possible.  You wonder how this person sees the world, and wonder if it's a nicer world than you've seen.  A walk home with this person would cover classical Greek, Spanish grammar, local geography, and personal poetry.  It is in the nature of this person to bleed the perfect gifts - at just he right moment, generosity strikes and makes you wonder why you don't think of doing the same for other people.  This person is not too proud to talk to a homeless man telling jokes for money, and doesn't care if you are a king - you are a person.  You exist.  And this is enough for Uncle Juampa's time, attention, and love."



Here's the bottom line - Do good, create, have fun, and Life will beg you to dance with it.  Try cooking, try dancing, try learning.  And above all, love tensegrity.