It will soon be six months since the most remarkable thing happened to me. It was a gesture, offered by a very kind person, whom I don’t know. I have a suspicion of who that person is, but I may never know for sure. I believe this person is an individual who, about a year ago, was walking with a group of his friends. An incident happened, which I called them on to correct. Of the six or so members of this group of teens, only one stepped forward to take responsibility for their actions. In an instant, my heart softened with admiration and respect for this person for accepting responsibility. We conversed a bit, and he apologized. What had happened, I had already forgotten about. This person corrected what needed to be corrected. What was more important was that he stepped forward, in the presence of all of his friends – peer pressure and all – to accept responsibility for what had happened. I was immensely grateful for his courage to “own” what happened.
This incident has lived in my heart for about a year. What the group did I’ve chalked up to mischievous play. But the action of one person was much more serious and affected me much more profoundly. When I had forgotten about what happened, the incident resurfaced about six months ago when I received a letter – beautifully written with just a few words. There was a name on the letter that I didn’t recognize. The letter almost had the tone of an apology, and spoke of spiritual food as “that which inspires us, teaches us, reminds us of the Truth, and causes us to remember who we really are.” Inside was a small gift.
I have no evidence to link the event that happened a year ago involving a group of teenagers with a letter I received six months ago, but I have a sense that the two are connected. My biggest fear is, if these two events are connected, that this person is going to move away to go to school or take up his life elsewhere, and I’ll never have a chance to tell him how I was affected by his kindhearted and gentle spirit…and thank him for the spiritual food he gave to me. To the author of this letter: I hope you are reading this, because you reminded me of who I really am, and that we are not groups or clusters or assemblies. We are individuals, bound together by the same thread that makes us all human, and sharing many common things, among which is love for others, even those we don’t know. I treasure your letter and read it often. Thank you.