Life and Times at Cranberry Lake

This blog is about the life, wild and otherwise, in this immediate area of Northeast Pennsylvania. I hope you can join me and hopefully realize and value that common bond we share with all living things... from the insect, spider, to the birds and the bears... as well as that part of our spirit that wishes to be wild and free.

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

COMMON AS SALT

I once had an insurance man who came around in person to collect the very minimal life insurance payment. The monthly bill was so small I couldn't figure how John Hancock could afford to have anyone collect in person. I looked forward to his visits. He was an older gent with a drinking problem, but he'd usually come around mid morning when more or less sober. I forget if I'd offer him some instant coffee, which was my drink at the time. (Now I make it on the coffee maker with regular coffee grounds.)

This guy would just sit and chat like he had all day. It was pleasant respite for me, as I have never been one to drop in on neighbors, nor have them drop in on me, so it was a way of both he and I to just talk to another person without feeling like we had to be someone we're not.

I couldn't tell you what we talked about. It wasn't important. It was the feeling of the comfort of a friend who expected nothing of him, and he expected nothing of me. We didn't try to solve each others problems, nor spread gossip. It was just a comfortable conversation with another human being who was of like mind in that we didn't weigh our words, nor try to impress.

One time he said to me, "You know, you are as common as salt." I took it as a grand compliment, as I knew what he meant. I was someone with whom he could talk to as if he was walking on a path in the woods talking to himself, but it was like having that person across the room. I felt about him in the same way. Common as salt. But so rare. So rare. There was rarely another person with whom I could be so "common" around. I had to always weigh my words and test the ground on which my words were to be weighed.

I wish for everyone that one person with whom you can open up, speak your thoughts, and be your common self without the weight of evaluation.