He sat in a chair near the door because it was the only place in the small coffee shop that was available to sit. The chair itself was comfortable enough. The thing that made this chair the last one to be taken was the fact that it was the middle of winter and while there wasn’t a storm raging a cold wind was blowing and it brutally came in the door every time it was opened. Inevitably someone would open the door and then stand there holding it open waiting for God knows who halfway down the block, all the time letting cold air come rushing in funneled directly on him. He tried to take a Zen view and accept it as his path but he found hatred entering in each time it happened and growing. No one else seemed to mind, but then no one else was sitting where he was.
This had been going on for a good twenty minutes while he sipped his tall Earl Gray tea, which was the beginning of his ritual for writing in his journal, something he did every day without fail. He had tried this ritual at home and wished with all his heart that it would work but the noise of the rest of his family, and the constant interruptions made that impossible. So the coffee shop it was. He was regular enough here that they started his order the second he walked through the door. As the anger welled up he wondered if it would kill them to reserve a chair towards the back for him.
Just then the door opened and he saw a woman, a mother trying to navigate a stroller with an infant through the narrow door with a toddler hanging onto her. She was not six feet away from her and he sat and watched her dispassionately. The thought of getting up to help her never occurred to him. The only thought he had was that life was tough for all of us and if she wanted to go out in the middle of winter with her infant and toddler then she had better learn how to get through a door on her own.
Only she was having a tough time of it and after a good two minutes he felt his anger directed towards the woman who wasn’t even able to get through a door. He could tell she was flustered too. No flustered wasn’t the right word. It was more distraught, close to tears.
At this point an older gentleman rose up from his seat halfway towards the back of the coffee shop and headed towards the door with swift sure strides. He had a smile on his face, the kind that would light up a room. In fact all eyes turned towards him as he made his way to the front. He approached the woman struggling and with his winning smile offered, “Here let me help you with this. My goodness you have your hands full with these two on a cold winter day don’t you?” As he talked he deftly put his foot in the door holding it open, grabbed the toddler who was in the process of escaping into the store and scooped her up into his arms. He said something to her quietly that nonetheless made her giggle. Finally, leaning down he deftly grabbed the stroller and lifted it over the threshold where it had become stuck.
The rest was easy. As he handed the toddler back, the mother replied, “Oh thank you,” and clearly embarrassed it seemed everyone in the store was looking at the scene. “I probably shouldn’t have even tried to come out today.” Here she began to trail off.
“Nonsense,” the gentleman said. There was an air of calmness and peace around him. He looked like nothing could get his feathers up. The man in the chair was keenly aware of this and was starting to think, ‘well yeah, he’s probably never had a hard day in his life’, when the gentleman looked down at him. He felt compassion of the kind that had extracted the deep price required and he found it hard to keep his composure as the gentleman said to him, “I hope we didn’t freeze you to death, perhaps you would allow me to have your tea refreshed to warm you up a bit.”
Without waiting for a response he placed his hand on the man’s shoulder and looked directly into his eyes. The man felt as it pure energy were flowing into him as the gentleman said, “I’m going to take care of you. You stay here and, “ with a wink, “Be sure and help any other struggling soul that tries to navigate this narrow door.
Ridgewalker's Notebook 