There's an
old man who lives round my way who daily sits on front garden walls or just
stands on the pavement watching the world go by. I never know what wall he is
going to turn up on as I walk back and forth to work or see him as I look out of my bedroom
window, his choice of walls is plenty. I
think he lives in the sheltered accommodation just down from the church.
I always
make a point of speaking to him when I see him. His eyes are rheumy, the skin
on his face drooping like a basset hound, he shuffles with his shoulders
hunched over, but in all of that you can see the young man he once was. His
eyes twinkle and laugh when you speak to him, his voice has a cheeky Irish lilt
to it. We talk about the weather and where his walk is taking him that day and
he reminds me every time that he goes for a walk twice a day in the winter and
three times a day in the summer. On his journeys he sits on walls, staring into
the world around him, not engaging with the world, but seemingly enjoying his
very existence in the world.
When I first
started talking to him I did it because I thought he was lost and lonely: just
recently I have realised that he is far from that, but am I?
He's very
obviously physically alone in the world now, but isn't letting that stop him
from being part of the world, locked up in a room watching Countdown for the
rest of his days. I once invited him into church for a cup of tea, he declined
telling me he was ok with his own company on his walk.
Am I ok with
my own company on my walk?
I have
recently noticed that I have introduced a lot of 'white noise' into my life. I
get up, turn on the tv or radio; his comment today was 'there's just a load if
rubbish on the telly'. I then fill my head and day with the constant drone of
electronic people connection on my phone, iPad, laptop and work PC; I am
seemingly never ‘alone’ - and quite honestly I miss that, I miss my own
company, I miss the headspace to spend time with myself and God.
I long to
turn off Countdown, go for a walk twice a day and sit on walls.
My world has
been made so small by ‘electronic people connection’. I need a sitting on a wall watching the world
go by APP for my phone, which I am sure some clever soul will now invent! No I
don't, I need an old man to teach me about life. How white noise steals your
mind and soul, closes you down, makes your world small.
I feel the
need to go sit on a wall, do something radical like talk to someone face to
face, or write a letter, post it and enjoy the anticipation of awaiting a
reply.
"What
is life if full of care, we have not time to stop and stare" this poem
seems one of the few things I can remember from school English lessons but it
is so apt and true in today's ‘electronic people connection’ lives that make us
so seemingly busy. Thank you old man that you made me stop and stare today,
you're an angel.
Leisure - W.
H. Davies
WHAT is this
life if, full of care,
We have no
time to stand and stare?—
No time to
stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as
long as sheep and cows:
No time to
see, when woods we pass,
Where
squirrels hide their nuts in grass:
No time to
see, in broad daylight,
Streams full
of stars, like skies at night:
No time to
turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch
her feet, how they can dance:
No time to
wait till her mouth can
Enrich that
smile her eyes began?
A poor life
this if, full of care,
We have no
time to stand and stare.