You don't have to be alone to find yourself lost. In fact,
this story shows there are times when the lost are standing right next to us.
A man named Damon Mootoo who is 32 years old had recently arrived to his brother's house in Queens, New York. He had flown in from Guyana. After being in the city for about 12 hours, he decided to go out and take a walk...stretch his legs a bit. He walked a few blocks and became disoriented and could not find his way back. Damon had heard many scary stories about people in New York, and he didn't have his permanent resident card with him. He was afraid he would be hurt or deported. So he kept walking and trying to find his brother's house.
This lasted for five days.
Damon did find himself begging for water, but was too ashamed and shy to ask for food or shelter. He does speak English, but he doesn't hear well. Together, all of these factors led him to spend five days and four nights on the streets of New York. Some nights the temperature ended up in the low 20s. One night he pulled a piece of wood over him to give him some shelter. Another night he was able to get inside an abandoned car. He was very hungry, tired, and scared.
Finally, another man, Michael Bharath, noticed. He saw Damon shivering on the street and so Michael and his wife gave Damon a sandwich. This allowed Damon the safety he needed to open up and shared his story. Damon, Michael and his wife together were able to find Damon's brother's address on a piece of paper Damon had, and once that fell into place, Michael and his wife drove Damon there. Of course, Damon's brother was very worried and had put flyers all over the city. It was a happy reunion to say the least.
This story is such a great reminder that sometimes we need to just slow down and notice all that is going on around us. How many people had seen Damon and made various assumptions about who he was. How many people had Damon seen and had made his own assumptions? What is it about being human that makes us so insular? How is it we pass so many people every day and don't know their names, their fears, their joys? How many people do we claim we "know", and yet we really don't? We only know their phone extension, not what worries them at night when they are trying to fall asleep. We know what their uniform looks like, but we don't know what makes them smile or what their favorite music is or how they met their significant other. In fact, sometimes we don't even know these things about ourselves.
Life is too short not to slow down and live deliberately and with passion. The more we do does not always equate to a more fulfilling life. Sometimes it ends up robbing us of the very joy of looking out the window and seeing what is beautiful. Sometimes it strangely ends up that so many ships are passing in the night a man spends five days lost in the middle of a city.
Kiss your children and tell someone you love them and eat something you love to taste. And then look around in case someone near is lost.
