Category: Sunday Posts

Sunday, a day of rest and reflection, a day to keep holy, in awe of God.

Something happened at the new escalator…

On By cjx07sterIn Love StoryLeave a comment

盲人女子与陌生男子

'blind woman with a strange man'

How many of us know how to react to help a blind person – who may be training the sighted human race – one by one – in how to get along,  for just 3 minutes at a time ?

Central Station in Sydney is the large railway terminus for country trains to the city.  It’s grand design dates back to the last century and its connective power is great with 24 platforms linking country and city trains and people. Over the past year at least, so the flower seller tells, the Devonshire St. Tunnel entrance from the east side has been renewed, and of course today was the first day that the new escalator linking the street down to the tunnel had started operating.  I had seen the inspectors inspecting early that morning, and this afternoon, was the first chance most people had to try it all out for size.

A man’s voice  spoke in my left ear, standing at the crossing this afternoon.

“Can you take her to Central please ?”

I looked over – hating to comprehend [what, which her is he talking about?] – since Central was just across the road.

I saw her white stick – his epaulette – the blind girl standing there – the taxi driver at her side.

He repeated his request, waiting for my slow comprehension to get sorted out..

I took her proffered arm, she looked around – like with beautiful blue misdirected eyes – still with expression – only one way.  Perhaps trying to reassure me – that there would not be a problem.

“Take my arm then !?”  she suggested, as buses were flying past, and the green man came on the crossing light.

We walked – she talked about not having come from this direction before – with the cane touching the pavement all over – and standing listening carefully all the time – I told her – ‘it’s all new, all of it’ == wondering what else == ‘whats your name ??’ .. she told me .. I was struggling to know how fast, how slow or what was the right way to walk, talk with a blind person.

“Well there are new stairs just here, and a new escalator over there to the right ? Do you want the stairs or the escalator ?”

“Lets go for the escalator” she said.   I must have been so stupid to ask about the stairs, but my sense of choice is stronger than my understanding of what a blind person might practically want to do, and up until today there was no escalator anyway.

We made it to the brand new escalator – down – round to the ticket gates – at one point I simply walked off – then with embarrassment realized she was standing still – confused – ‘Why had I left her standing there on the concourse ?”

I rushed back – stupid guy – then guided her over to the gates –

“No the wide gate! ” she said..

I felt so strange – no blind human had ever needed this much attention before – from me – who had not been trained of course.

We finally rounded the corner, and into the entry tunnel. I said to her – “have a happy Christmas”, after she said she would be fine from here – in the safety of the railway concourse and down toward the platform.  I left her, edging her way over to the tunnel wall, and avoiding people with the cane.  It seemed a shame in some respects, that we could not try the whole experience again, and I’m sure I could have done much better a second time.  But life is often that way.  You just get one try, not a second try, so

make sure to switch brain in gear

next time you hear a voice in your ear

your new experience about to begin

just once

take care

jump in

Ben’s blanket for Emmanuel

On By cjx07sterIn Miracle, Sunday Posts, TravelLeave a comment

We’d been running late.  The astronomer and his prophet were pressing us, but the conditions in the south Enceladus jet stream were not good for launch.  As well we were short two hyperdrivers due to budget cuts from the respective treasuries.  A fine way to treat us, the best of the best, and now we had to drive as well. The prophet was insisting that now was the time. Only one of us was from Enceladus anyway.  The other two from Titan.  Anyway, we had seen a recent rapid brightening of the blue planet, actually the astronomers caught it first, on there new differential light plate.  A solar alert went out, and after a day or so we could all see the light, bright in the sky, where once it was just a small bright speck of blue, now it was pretty significant.

I Melchiora, was the only female in the group, the other two slugs from different countries on Triton moon were Gasparon, a kind of devious scholar, always out for greatness, and Balthozo, equally adventurous as Gasparon was clever and had been to the earth before on a previous mission.  Still, they were talented and knew a lot about the solar system.  Enceladus education was great, but derived from the books of the larger moon, so always just a bit behind. The prophet had told me, “it will be a baby, this king, take care when you get there. but be sure not to tell the others, it will frighten them.The secret gift from Enceladus

Gasparon, the captain, said “OK they’ve started the countdown, lets get out of here”.  We all agreed, and loaded into the capsule.

“Wait, did you get the gifts ?” I asked.

“Sure..,… but its heavy ! … the Gold one.” Said Gasparon

“OK great.” , I didn’t tell ’em about Ben’s baby blanket I had smuggled on board. They would have laughed at me for sure, and we didn’t need it at this time.

The bright red light on the central console, started flashing slowly and the little countdown clock ticked over.  We were strapped in and ok to get moving.  It felt good to be finally on the way.

Nothing quite like the feel of the gate valve opening and our little craft being nudged into the jet stream of the ice geysers, which rapidly pushed us faster and faster until we shot through the jet a a massive speed and then quiet, and our moon was far below us.  At 20 miles out we switched to the tesla drive and were propelled out in a massive curve by means of the magnetosphere.  So beautiful the rings of saturn as we shot past at high speed toward the sun.

Out here interplanetary, we only had the light from the sun to guide us forward, and we battled the solar wind all the way out toward it, the brightening blue planet, our destination.

Balthazo spoke after some time, “We got to aim for the Pyramids, line them up in the scope, and we make our entry through the atmosphere at that angle.”

Balthazo had been to the blue planet before.  He had brought back stories of the great king Herod, and others in the land near the Mediterranean sea.  He had said that the pyramids of Egypt were the best, and since you could clearly see them from space, they were an excellent navigation point going down.

It got a bit bumpy shooting through the wispy edge of the atmosphere, but never mind, with the great pyramids in sight, we dropped down into the sea.

“You mind telling me, why we had to land in this sea ?” I asked.

“We got to go see Herod, he’s the great king here in Judea.”  He’s got a reputation and such, so we have to go see him, just get permission to travel through his land to go see the new king, who might related somehow.” – Gasparon said.

“OK fine, perhaps it’ll work”.  I said.

Out of the sea, and onto the land of the blue planet, we made our way and picked up some clothes. Eventually we came to the place of Herod.  We were warmly received, but when we mentioned about the new king,… well I guess Herod’s reputation was fully justified, he just went super quiet, and called for some water.

“When you eventually find this .. new “King”, come back and let me know more ?”

And we made our polite farewells.

We passed by many small villages, and over the next day or so, saw people looking unconcerned,. we had enquired after the new “King” but everyone just looked at us in a kind of astonished way.

We really had got lost for the day, but then the bright light which had reflected off the upper atmosphere before was now visible in the eastern sky.

There in a stable, passing by, we saw, since the door was open, a baby with angels and other heavenly beings crowded round.

“Forget it, this can’t be the place” – said Balthazo, I’ve been round here before.  It’s no place for a king.

Gasparon was still a way back, and coming up from behind us.

“Look, wait here for Gasparon, he’s still way behind,.. I’ll just go in and take a look. Something strange about the light there” – I said.

I reached into my pack, and took out the brown paper package hidden there.  I walked calmly over to the door. Inside the light was bright, but coming from no where in particular, and there was a kind of static in the cool air. There were humans, a mother, a father, and their little one, wrapped up in kind of nothing much.  I took the gift package and gave it to the mother.  She thanked me, looked at the strange fastenings, and then opened it carefully.  Taking the blanket, she opened it out on the floor, looked at it, and in a curious way said “Thankyou, It’s very nice, and I’ll keep it for him when it gets cold. His name is Emanuel actually, he is who he is, and the world has changed tonight, yet still not what it should be.”

“I know the name is not right, I said”, but it is in memory of where we came from, and it made it for my own son, when he was little, his name is Benjamin. It’s not a normal Enceladian name, but I liked it, and got it from a book, which Gasparon had brought back and given me, when he returned from this place many years ago.”

Gasparon and Balthazo walked in then, and they had realized things were a bit different here.  They came forward and all three of us looked carefully at the new born one. “This is the king.. he’s wonderful.. get your gifts.  This is the one”. I said quietly.

Everyone was a bit quiet then.  There was a breeze outside, and the light inside, and the baby, and the mother, father, some animals resting in the back of the room.. not really a room.. more a stable.

Gasparon gave the gifts, destined for the new king to the father.  The Gold and the other things we had brought down from Saturns rings.  Balthazo made a small speech.  Then we left quietly through the side door.

When we left the stable, we found that we were confused, something changed in our purpose, our hearts were a bit different.  In a way we felt alien to ourselves, and we had no desire to go back to the spaceship down in the sea.  We had no desire to suck up to that pompous Herod the Great as well, so we went off in the opposite direction. Eventually we wandered the earth and got lost in the peoples countries there.  Something died in us. There was a birth, yes, but also a death, and it seemed to us that we could not go back the way we had come.  We had passed a point in time when things past would be gone, and things yet to come would be less so, what they might have been.

His chair in the canyon…

On By cjx07sterIn Sunday Posts, TravelLeave a comment

Down in an orange county canyon, there was a bar not far from the foothill towns. I was with a local, we had got some  beers in the afternoon, and now with the sun setting beyond the darkening hills, and the bar, noisy with a few people, dressed in leathers, where there are mountain lions, and cougars, and panthers, which give an air of danger, the possibility of an insecurity, not felt, or perhaps not imagined in the city around about.

It might be more dangerous with the humans around.  Who can tell a foreigner, in a strange place.  I have walked into bars in Boston, with closed windows and dim lights, where on enquiring, “do you know the way to route 93”, there will be a sideways look, a shrug, and not a word is spoken.  It is then you feel the danger, and the naivety of a stranger wandering into somewhere, other wise local people would never tread.

In the canyon bar, with the bikes in their heavy chrome jackets out there. Something wild, like from before, perhaps before the goldrush, or before the strip malls came, but wild all the same.  After the first beer, and you get to look around.  Enough sense of security to make eye contact, and read the notice board, and listen to the conversational hum, outside and in.  The engines and the leather, and the noise of the Harley’s arriving one by one, in groups of two or three.

In the middle distance, against the fence, just near another table, a chair with stencilled in red paint “Security”.  The chair was unusual,… it was the only metal chair out in the dusty courtyard, it was a nice design – polished alumium, with an art deco flair.., but it was there, heavily secured to the fence, with a padlock and a chain. The padlock, like most padlocks in the universe, had probably not been opened for some time, perhaps the key was lost.  The chair like the key, looked unique in the courtyard, populated by wooden tables and other things under the sun.

We wandered around the courtyard, looking over the bikes, chatting to the owners.  On returning to our bench, I noticed an older guy had turned up drinking beer in a large black leather tankard. Had sat himself down in the chair stencilled “Security”. Not talking, but secure in his position and role in the courtyard.  While all the younger people on bikes and in the bar, were talking and making life, here he was sitting on the secured designer chair, like he owned the place, if not for himself, for the security of the place, and I thought of a place in singapore, there was a guy there, who came in each evening, to play pool.  He was thin, and keen of eye, but possibly well into his eighties, and this guy could beat anyone at pool, and he drank a stack of beer, big schooner glasses one by one.  He would carefully place the beer on the side of the table, take aim and then pull the pool queue and let go, changing the universe once again with the successful sinking of balls, one by one.  Never said a word, never smiled, just played pool, with a kind of happy look in his eye.  He had his place, he came there every night… he probably still does…

There is something about having an older wiser guy, who’s lived through life, seen it all, and happy to not chatter away, making noise, but still keen to be there among the younger people who do, perhaps making the place a bit more secure, like a guardian angel in a way, a guardian about to become an angel of sorts, with old thoughts, and old ideas, of a world gone by. Thinking, drinking his beer, like everyday, sitting in his unique metal chair, with his name on it, in the yard, in the canyon, with the sun going down.

QiJi – Nice clear Water into Wine for Guests

On By cjx07sterIn Existentialism, Miracle, Sunday Posts, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I would have gone cycling through the dark universe of the creator with compass.  The dividers which divided left from right up from down, cartesian and rotational thinking for all.  I would have rung my bell as I passed back in time to its dim small beginning.  I turn my wheel and precess my gyro force along lines of pure particles trapped in quantum traces through the mind of our creator.  I know now how miracles happen, those event threads which do not make sense in the causal sphere we live in.  The rational line that allows one thing to depend on a prior thing.  A miracle starts by deleting or creating an event thread and its rational cause erased by the hand of God as and when someone might entreat him.  How simple it is to just park the bike with the bell inside the compass drawn night, and turn off the bike light and listen to the noise of the background dark energy, and pray that something good can occur when normal causality, reality, and rational thought deems it impossible.  Then all of an instant, the hand of the almighty reaches back in time, rolling up the fly thread on his rod and reel and flicks the key events which might shape the present and makes change what is to what was to be.

At the marriage feast at Cana, there were people in a passion play, needing wine for the guests to follow, and deleting the water thread and replacing it with wine, what other impacts were caused, were not elaborated.