i spent time with one of my favourite people yesterday. he’s a man in his late 80s, and is the person who named me. his life’s story is so interesting, and despite his age, his mind is as sharp as anyone’s - better than most, actually. he belonged to a family that had great riches in India. his family was wealthy, but greedy and his father had a few wives, i believe. around the age of 13 or 14, he left home and everyone behind after his mother passed. he says that he had rings made of gold and diamonds on his hands. he took them off, tossed them and left. he went on to make his own name, worked for a newspaper, hosted radio shows and stayed in a small space in a house he rented nearby. his now-wife is a girl that lived in the house in which he had rented a space. they still live there and seeing that same house brings back fond memories, made fonder knowing the history behind it all.
he studied philosophy and history in his time and you can tell from his thoughts, his every action that he has spent his entire life towards betterment, not for himself but the world around him. i asked him what makes him happy. he said seeing others happy. i asked what hurts. he said the innocent lives taken across firing borders when a child or woman is passing, unbeknownest to the terrors surrounding. he talked of how the world is killing people in 2s and 3s every day, because it stops making the news, but reaches great death tolls. they kill smartly, not doing it by thousands so as to not draw attention.
i don’t know that there’s anyone more entrancing, more polite, or more willing to learn and listen than this man. may God bless him every wish his heart desires and a longer and continued healthy life. there are few like him.
we didn’t talk about anything particularly sad, but throughout the couple of hours i sat with him, talked with him, my eyes kept filling with tears. the energy of the very pure reduces you to your bare bones.
every time i write about something meaningful to me, the writing is jagged because it’s just raw thought and i dont want to wax poetic, but it feels unjust to the memory. still, i hope you understand.