"Now we see through a glass darkly..."
1Corinthians 13:12
An ‘open hand’…a necessary ingredient for embracing the
possibilities of the unknown, the prize behind “…door number two…,” the
willingness to expect the unexpected…yes sir working to keep an open hand is
what makes life so interesting.
It had been a long run, I was bone tired with only one
thought in my mind – get horizontal as soon as possible! The micro journey along the pathway through
the darkened forest of the future, delayed that event AND once again reminded me just how unexpectedly refreshing ‘trusting the process’ can be.
Last leg before home…
I had come to Frankfurt to do some strategic planning
training with a group of European physical therapists that are part of the
McKenzie Institute, an international organization who’s primary mission is to educate
therapists worldwide in the teachings of the founder after whom the
organization is named. My teaching
partner Uffe, from Denmark, is one of the more genuinely delightful people I
know, so it was something to which I looked forward, near the end of what
would become my first around the world trip…forward because I have known many
of these dedicated and thoughtful people for nearly two decades.
The week prior to the training had been filled by a
conference in Dubai, where I spoke to an international conference regarding the
importance of exercise in chronic back pain patients. I don’t know about other speakers, but
preparing for these sorts of things is stressful, time and energy
consuming. For me, it can best be
described as ‘fearfully exciting!’
In the end, the presentation went well in a week filled with
daylong scientific sessions, long evening dinners and other social events. By the time I got on the flight to Frankfurt,
it was time to charge the batteries.
Frankfurt and Dubai are similar in the respect they are both
financial centers, but the parallel pretty much ends there. Dubai in the United Arab Emerites: ultra
modern, emerging in the past decade or so as one of the more unique and
artificial places on earth. Frankfurt in
the middle of Europe: a long and important history where as early as 794 the
Emperor/mystic Charlemagne held court.
Another big difference is the weather.
Whilst Dubai was quite warm and humid (94F - 34C), Frankfurt was in the
60s (16C) with off and on rain showers.
They could NOT be more different in appearance, climate or ‘feel.’
The beginning of the
end…
The first day of training went well, with a lot of positive
energy spent by all. Monday evening,
our wonderfully gracious host George, took us to dinner at a traditional German
restaurant. Getting there, however, was a
bit of an adventure! We took a hotel bus to the airport, the train to downtown
Frankfurt and ‘shanks pony’ (foot power) a fair distance to the dinner place...George leading; the rest of us following like
so many goslings padding along behind their mother goose!
The food was great! I
ordered the ‘Woodcutter’s Steak – a beefsteak smothered in onions and enough
potatoes to feed a small army. German
food is often heavy and ‘rib sticking,’ fortifying the eater for the work
ahead…his meal was delicious and of little doubt in the German tradition.
By now, my tummy was full and I realized just how tired I
really was. After chatting with my
tablemates and realizing I was slipping into moments of incoherent
conversation, I looked around to see if I could recruit a group to share a taxi
back to the hotel. What began with two,
turned into seven and after negotiating with the waitress, a minivan appeared
that could accommodate all of us. A
funny thing about the group, is that we were all the ‘older folk!’ I didn’t realize that until I looked around
the taxi and noticed that all of us had, shall I say, more mature looking faces
than those we left behind!
When we got to the hotel, Uffe said, “Let’s go to the bar
for a few minutes – you can get some water – I have some thoughts I would like
to share.” All the way home in the cab, all I could see was the bed, how good
it would be to slip into it, and my willingness to give in to that great gift
of the gods – SLEEP!! Uffe’s comment was
almost like fingers scratching on a blackboard.
My first thought, “Really? Are
you kidding? You want to do this?” The
rapid succession of thoughts may not be worth writing, but could be best
categorized under the general category of, “Man, I am uncertain I have a
coherent neuron in my brain!!”
What I said, however, after a brief calculus was, “Sure, let’s chat
for a bit.”
The night got
interesting…
By now it was getting close to 10PM (22.00), and the bar was
pretty full of businessmen talking, drinking and enjoying the end of their day. We took a standing spot at the very end of the curved bar.
Uffe is a businessman, visionary and has thoughts come to
him almost as freely as a mountain stream whose waters flow by the natural
effects of gravity. Once settled, he began
to talk a little about telemedicine and how might be the future for much of the
cost problems in healthcare. As he
frequently says, “I am not certain about the details, but that can be worked
out later.”
We had been chatting for about 10 minutes, when an ‘early
40s’ looking woman sitting at the end of the flat side of the bar to Uffe’s
right said, in the kind of perfectly sweet English that could only be described
as CANADIAN, “Excuse me, but I couldn’t help but over hear your
conversation. I work in health care in
the Province of Ontario, and am CEO of a company that uses telemedicine
extensively.”
Shantelle, it turned out had been the victim of a cancelled
flight home to Toronto and the airline put her up in our hotel. Her presence led to a lively conversation that
both woke me up and got my groggy brain more fully engaged in the
discussion. I am uncertain if it was the
content of the conversation or the sheer coincidence of our meeting that shook me
awake.
I have NO idea how it
works…
Here’s the deal about life, and the reason I’m telling this
story:
1.
The day had been long and dinner pretty far from
the hotel requiring transport and a fair amount of walking – I could have
passed on dinner.
2.
After eating, it took time to organize the
number of people that were ready to return to the hotel, and finding a taxi
that could hold all of us – I could have gotten a single taxi almost
immediately.
3.
Uffe suggested we go to the bar to talk about
some thoughts he had – I could have begged off and gone to bed.
4.
Shantelle’s flight might not have been cancelled
in which case she would not have been in the bar.
5.
She might not have been hungry, nor had the
courage to go by herself for a bite to eat in the bar of a business hotel so
late in the evening.
6.
She could have been in any line of work, and in
fact did not need to engage a couple of strange men chatting at 10PM at night
in a in group of moderately loud, food eating, beer drinking men – and yet
there she was.
There are any number of pieces in this chess game that
brought all of us together in that moment.
Anywhere along the line the smallest change in circumstance would have
meant the meeting would never have happened…
These are the events in life that make the journey such a
wonder to me. Who could arrange these
things to happen? How could one even
consider the constellation of apparently unrelated events leading to the meet? Random chance? I cannot accept that because the events
appeared to have deliberate purpose.
Getting this to work required perfect timing of the
completely unknown! The taxi to hotel
had to be perfectly timed…Uffe had to have the question…I needed to
agree…Shantelle needed have a cancelled flight, be in this hotel and be hungry,
brave to be in that bar…she needed to be on the last barstool beside which Uffe was
standing and have the courage to insert herself into our conversation.
Say what you will, there is an order…there is a plan…there
is an ‘Arranger’ who may take even more pleasure in arranging these things than
I do in experiencing them. I know they are
not just for my education, but the lesson of the ‘open hand’ was not lost on
me!
It is written: “Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall
find, knock and the door shall be opened.”
Isn’t this what the journey of life is all about? Having the choices and
being willing to say yes to them?
I may not get it, nor see these things coming, but when they
happen – “…bone tired…” or not, I find myself with the wonder of a little
child.
How are your hands?
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