Every now and again, we get an unexpected moment of clarity and revelation that make us acutely aware of what is happening in front of or around us.
Claire and I were driving through the ancient market town of Malmsbury in Wiltshire when we came to a T-intersection in the town centre. An elderly couple were standing to our left wanting to cross to the other side. I stopped the car and invited them to cross the street. The woman was reasonably fit and relatively younger than the man so, she gently held his arm and encouraged him to step into the road. Although smartly dressed, the man was stooping so far down, his upper body formed almost 90 degrees with his lower half from the hips down.
As they crossed over slowly, his blue-grey eyes locked on to mine and he gave me such a defiant and proud look as though to say “I was not always like this. I may look feeble now, but I had a glorious and accomplished past. You wait in your comfortable and shiny car for as long as it takes; you have more time than I do in this world”.
I could not shake that brief encounter out of my brains, I often wonder what he was like in his younger and fitter days. What did he do for a living; what kind of a person was he; had he accomplished everything he set out to? Finally, what kind of ailment beset him to give him this extremely uncomfortable, and possibly painful posture? I wish I met him in circumstances more conducive to holding a conversation, instead of the 10 seconds or so it took him to cross the road while looking at me with those intelligent and proud eyes.
I am not in the best of health myself, however, this encounter reminded me that I should be grateful for my good fortunes. Every day I wake up in my own bed and find I am still able to get up and start the day unaided, I thank my lucky stars.
Wishing you Omicron-free winter.
Mufid
