Undone by Sudden Revelation

It all seemed so innocent.  Here at the door of an outdoor clothing store the greeter was a man likely in the early forties.

 

While my friend went to find a desired shirt I remained in conversation as the greeter seemed to want to talk about one thing or another in his life. No big deal. Some eye contact.

 

I went off to find my friend. He made a purchase. As he made his way to the door we met the greeter again. This time he addressed me directly with words and eye contact. Then in a moment of time he began to describe the recent funeral of his father and that he had spoken for about 20 minutes.

 

He then spoke the final words of his talk in a low and guttural voice. The words are lost in my mind. All I could feel was amazement. He created a sacred space at the store entry by laying bare his inner person. 

 

Both friend and I were both taken aback by the utter honesty of both word, emotion, and physical demeanor. This was a revelation and one should be wary of such surprise experiences. What will I do about this revelation in and of my self? What in me gave him permission to do this act of personal courage? That is the way it works. We each give others permission to say things to us by imperceptible signals.

 

I did courage to put into words a memorable. I believe such moments are part of building up the human experiment. More on that at a later time.