The Stranger at the Cafe

Casually, like a timid boy
making his first contact with others...
the old man leans over the counter
where he'd perched, moments ago, like a shy bird
- hesitant and uncertain -
words seemed to hover over his lips,
minutes pass, like eternity

I am waiting, watching the twist on his face
as he struggles to break the protective wall.
The wall... the block between he and I,
the words that may be misconstrued, awkward gestures -
for we are both strangers,
each in his world and that of the other.

He is hefty, muscular, like he would break the counter
with a single blow... yet he is vulnerable!
His bashed eyes, the color of the ocean tell me so.
They are distant!
Staring into a space I can't define
staring as though a stranger's world would open another door.

Then I mutter words I do not remember,
and there he speaks, the man from Copenhagen
speaks in the language any stranger speaks to another.
And his vulnerability, like his shield are bare before me.
He says he's been robbed.
And Oh! don't you know we are always robbed of something?

I almost giggle, yes, I almost do,
for how can a bully with thick muscles and hypnotic eyes be robbed?
I do not ask him, I feel his vulnerability, his lies, his despair.
I will answer your questions, old man who let himself robbed
in the broad of light....
You'll tell me we will meet again.... but I know we won't.
I give you what you want. I'll give you because tomorrow
I will sit at the counter where you are sitting
and another shall be at my place.

We only meet at the crossroads,
like strangers... and point to others the path they are seeking.
We meet at the crossroads,
like strangers... seeking a light in the darkness of our path
a light only others possess.
I am your light today, the voice that tells you where you are.
Tomorrow, you will be a light for a stranger, on the crossroad.

Crossing the Threshold of Pain

There is no dignity in suffering. If suffering were beautiful, it certainly would be someone else’s suffering. However, suffering has a certain value. Besides the fact that it enlarges our spirit, it speaks a language to us and it awakens us to the consciousness of living purposefully. Just like darkness helps us define light, so is suffering. It opens our heart’s portal to the mystery of love. Experience has taught me that people who have suffered a lot and have transcended their pain become very rich in their humanity. Having touched pain in their own flesh, they become sensitive and very humble when they sense it in other lives. Proud and arrogant people are those who haven't yet understood this and their arrogance reveals the depths of their misery.

There is no pain that the human heart cannot bear. And people hardly die of pain. In his touching tale of Life in Auschwitz, Frankl decries the harrowing and devastating experiences of the concentration camp. This book is about finding meaning in the heart of experiences that stripes the human of all dignity, lays him bare and utterly vulnerable. The pain can be so terrible that the only possible path of escape is suicide. Yet, few people consider suicide. In his practice of logotherapy  he has often asked his patients who have undergone immense suffering why they never committed suicide. Someone would always have something that links him or her to life, something s/he would live or die for.

People discover the power of love in moments of abject suffering. Instead of suffering for love, suffering becomes a path through which many roads are opened in their lives. A woman who has undergone throes of birth would know what I am talking about. And that experience reveals that something always comes to life when we suffer. Something is born within us, something that adds value to life and something that links us intimately to life. There are two things that happen when we suffer. Suffering can destroy what is human in us, or it can make it can sharpen our faculties and unleash the hidden, creative energy within us.

Suffering destroys when we do not dare to step outside of its chamber. This happens when you look at it as evil, daring not to face it. This is very common especially in situations where the pain is inflicted. The immediate reaction is that of shock and retaliation. Bitterness can be born from this experience. A person, shut into his chamber of pain becomes restless, domineering and unforgiving. But the person who dares step beyond its threshold sees things differently, looks at the world with a new understanding, and unleashes the creative force that redefines his identity. There is no pain that the human person cannot grow from. The truth I have learned is that when we step out of our darkness, we can bath in the luminosity of the light streaking from the brokenness of others. That is what stepping beyond the threshold of pain is all about.