THE
GREATEST GIFT OF ALL TIME
The
greatest gift that I can give to my friends is TIME.
That
is why I don't wish to chat on line, talk on Skype or participate in Facebook.
Friends
need time, as in being present there with them all the time, in Full rather
than in snippets or Twitter.
Thus
when time becomes scarce, friends are lost. So make Time!
Are
you busy? someone asks
No,
I am never busy for my friends.
But
as we welcome new friends with great emotion and understanding, we should also
accept their departure.
2011
my best friend in Asia left the scene.
2012
a good friend from Karaj, Iran left.
But
as Bob Marley has put it in words, when one door is closed, the other is open.
There
are no strangers in this world, only friends who are to be made.
Cuban
friends never leave because they have been your friends in FULL, face to face,
and share fully their times. Perhaps they too will depart when Internet becomes
available in Cuba and they prefer virtual to real friends, but I somehow doubt
it.
American
Indians are always there, they are not going anywhere. Their lives are not
trajectories, going from one step to another step higher. It takes a while
before they would call you a friend, said a Meskwakia elder.
If
someone shoots an arrow at your friend, you are duty-bound to stop that arrow,
even if you are hurt in that process.
That
is the spirit of the Warriors, to protect others.
Because
my sister and her husband gives me a lot of time, Miami still has remained
close to my heart.
I
fondly think of the friends who defined “homes” to me during this vagabond
life:
Kuala
Belait, Brunei
Melbourne,
Australia
London,
England
Miami,
Florida
Kingston,
Jamaica
La
Habana, Cuba
Baracoa,
Cuba
Even
though I feel very comfortable being in Asia, no place has felt “home”, even
though my good friends in KL and Bogor had helped me feel at home.
I DONT HAVE TIME IS NOT A SENTENCE IN MY VOCABULARY WHEN IT COMES TO MY FRIENDS, IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THAT AND IT WOULD ALWAYS BE LIKE THAT.
