The wabi-sabi truth
The beauty of the peregrine lies not just in speed, but in survival. A wabi-sabi everyday truth—what endures is often imperfect, yet extraordinary. Not all things need fixing. Stillness too has power. Wabi-sabi lives in both motion and rest.
A marathon, not a sprint
The sight of the racing track embodied the stark difference between a sprint and a marathon. My reunion with the old man of Saxony further solidified key lessons of life: hope, courage, good-natured tolerance, patience, resilience, and selective attention. He called this the meandering river of life as he whispered into my ear, “𝓓𝓲𝓮 𝓓𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓮 𝓼𝓲𝓷𝓭 𝓷𝓲𝓬𝓱𝓽 𝓲𝓶𝓶𝓮𝓻 𝓭𝓪𝓼, 𝔀𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓬𝓱 𝓼𝓲𝓮 𝓪𝓾𝓼𝓼𝓮𝓱𝓮𝓷. 𝓢𝓬𝓱𝔀𝓮𝓲𝓰𝓮𝓷 𝓲𝓼𝓽 𝓮𝓲𝓷𝓮 𝓶ä𝓬𝓱𝓽𝓲𝓰𝓮 𝓦𝓪𝓯𝓯𝓮.” This hit me hard. I reflected. I noticed the wisdom in the heavy statement about not taking all statements and smiling faces at their face value and exercising the power of silence. His grey hair bore witness to the abrasive weathering of time and experience—seasoned by pain, patience, and promises, some fulfilled, others not. Yet together, these vicissitudes have moulded him into an authentic, well-rounded mentor, revered by his peers and the younger generations walking in his footsteps.
Changing lenses
By this time, I had changed my glasses three times. The sight of Fielmann, situated near Obermarkt, rekindled fond memories of the first time I got an eye check for my first pair of spectacles in this small city. I exclaimed as I put it on and discovered the clarity and sharpness of vision I had been missing before then. Will I be tempted to go for a new pair again? I resisted the urge for some time, but not for long.
My reunion with Hugh, a man from Homa Bay, and later with the founder of Maasai Manyatta in the capital of Saxony, happened just next to another Fielmann shop. The first time I went for my spectacles in the small city, a #millennial conducted my eye check session in English throughout. Intriguingly, this time, when I had better reasons and expectations for a session in English in the larger city, it was held in German throughout, by a #GenX. To any literature student, this is a plot fronting scenes with two parties who are a generation apart, two cities apart in stature by population and infrastructure – complete with a #Volluniversität (a comprehensive university offering a full range of disciplines), and two experiences apart. I recalled the old man’s warning not to take all things at face value, hence not all assumed friends or enemies at face value.
Treading carefully – the old man’s ultimate advice
The ultimate lesson is to tread carefully with expectations based on face value. The veneer, the stylised facts, the history – all that may just fall off and leave you groping in insecure and unfamiliar territory. As you change your lenses of viewing life, base your choices on thoughtful and prayerful considerations without the trappings and sway of age, status, titles, race, tribe, appeal, or fame. I checked again with the old man to confirm if my conclusion was right on point, laser-focussed for a #surveyor. He said emphatically, “𝑾𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒖 𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒔𝒕, 𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒛 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒉𝒓.” With that, I left the country satisfied that age had taught me something and my association with the old man of Saxony was the best thing that happened. I will sustain this relationship so that his iron can continue sharpening my iron. By the way, #iron is an incredibly special mineral.
The announcement came, “In wenigen Minuten erreichen wir die Endstation. Bitte steigen Sie aus.” And that was it. I had to say goodbye and expect another encounter in the year. Resilience was tested again when it had to take hours to trace a service point, and even more due to a much later departure than scheduled, thus exposing the fallacy of expecting an all-round efficiency in “developed regions” as technology narrows the gaps in access to knowledge and powers borderless influence.
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„𝓔𝓪𝓼𝓽 𝓸𝓻 𝓦𝓮𝓼𝓽, 𝓱𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓫𝓮𝓼𝓽.“
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