Everyone residing on our planet has the same basic life experiences, or so I remember someone telling me once. Some are more extreme than others but basically, we all have the same emotional experiences. I didn’t give this much thought and might have even thought that it was not true.
And then the other day, while we were in America, We were eating in a McDonalds. There was a man sitting on a breakfast bar in the middle of the restaurant speaking loudly on his phone. He was an older man whose nourishment didn’t seem healthy.
HIs clothes were obviously that of someone that hadn’t changed them in a few days. And he wore a green, Saint Patrick’s day, hat on his head. The best way for me to describe him is as being homeless. But he did have a cell phone and in a couple of instances spoke about having a job that would last for a few years.
“I just got something to eat,” he said into the phone, and bought me a little hat so you tell them if they need anything I will be willing to pay for it.”
The voice on the speaker of his phone came back muffled and inaudible but it was obviously a woman voice.
“I think I”m feeling better,” he continued, “and after this, I think I am going to need a bottle.”
His conversation continued like this for some time. Then he started speaking to the woman on the phone about her being his girlfriend. “Because we are in love…” I heard him say. and the reason you love me is because I am amazing.”
At this, I was a little surprised. From the way he looked one would never have thought that he thought of himself as amazing. I believe that most people have a very high opinion of themselves and that most would describe themselves as amazing.
His conversation then turned to God. “George Burns smoked every day and he lived to be 105. He smoked because God told him to smoke and God allowed him to live for that long. I believe God has done all of this for me and I’m one of the most fortunate people that have ever lived.”
Now I believe that all people, no matter of circumstances consider themselves amazing and fortunate. But for some reason, I never thought someone like this man would have thought this about himself.
The people around him were not happy about his presence in the restaurant. One even commented that the woman he was on the phone with was a “Lucky Girl”. The manager eventually asked him to leave. He was very courteous after this and left after cleaning up his mess and bringing the trays from the trash cans to the manager.
I sat there looking at this man that never got angry about being asked to leave or about the people talking about him. A man that believed how fortunate he was. I thought about what I had been told and I guess that on an emotional level we do all experience the same things.
