Caleb's Hike...

First of all, thank you everyone for your ongoing support and encouragement.


The other day I saw a man standing silent and still. Both his hands were grasped closed. Both his feet planted stable and strong. He stood straight breathing slowly. All seemed comfortable except his eyes. His eyes contradicted ease into complexity, and I realized that this comfort stance only masked confusion. In closer evaluation I realized that in one hand the man held a wallet. This wallet served as a home for all the “important” things in his life. At the very center, like most wallets, was his license. An emotionless picture characterized by a name, an address, and a description. Once in time these things were important. Now they seemed distant and foreign: a name given by two strangers before his existence, an address that describes time less spent at home, and a description of a photo not a person. Next to his license he held a card. A piece of plastic that told how much money he held. It characterized him both financially and socially. It told him not only what he could buy, but also who he needed to associate with. On top of both these things he carried pictures of family and friends. These pictures are the first things he sees when he opens this wallet and the last things he sees before he flips it closed. They serve as both anchor and harness to the fingers wrapped around the leather. In closer evaluation I realized that this man is silent and still because he is balanced. Steady tightrope walking a sill of equilibrium. In a comfortable stance shadowed with confused eyes he stands with wallet in one hand and nothing in the other.