Remember “the most beautiful man you’ll ever meet”?
Well a week after we saw him the first time, we happened to be walking down the same road we saw him on before. This time I had my camera with me and I thought “wouldn’t it be cool if he was there and I asked to take his portrait?”
From a distance I could see that there were three or so men sitting where he was the last time. I thought one of them had to be him. I was a bit nervous walking up to the group because I wasn’t sure really how the conversation would go. “Hey how are you remember you told me that you were the most beautiful man I’d ever meet?” He probably said that to everyone who walked by that day. Oh well a chats a chat and this guy was obviously a veteran of sidewalk smack and I’m not so shy either so here we go.
So as I approached and recognized him sitting in the middle of his two mates, I asked how they were doing. He treated me like a casual old friend had walked up, answered “good good” all while reaching out his left hand for me to grab with my right. We shook hands for a few moments. And then all of the sudden I didn’t have much to say. He asked me my name and forgot to ask him his. One of the other gentlemen was on his feet shuffling slowly to kick a rock off the sidewalk that otherwise may be stepped on by a passerby while the other, a small round man with checkered slacks a vest and flat cap stared off into space. We exchanged some small talk and I mentioned that he told me the other day that he was the most beautiful man I’d ever meet. Now in the same way he had told me that he just responded “Hey I help people man. I help people.”
Now it’s easy to pass off interactions with the atypical as the typical crazy guys talking nonsense. But every interaction we have with anyone is as much or as little as we make it to be, right? I looked at his blue-gray eyes and with nothing else to say asked “can I take your picture?” He said yes. So my novice hands pulled out my big camera, he made a grin, and I took a few shots. I showed him how they turned out. He didn’t much care. I thought I did him justice in that moment. I then said my goodbye and he grinned. He told me I was a good bloke. When I started to walk away he called out again looking me in the eyes and said “I help people.”
However “just-a-mad-bloke-on-the-side-of-the-street” this encounter sounds, (yes I use “mad” and “bloke” from time to time now) the funny thing is that he did help me and anyone else who reads this and takes something away from it. There are these odd yet impactful moments that arise spontaneously but require you to be open to your environment to catch ’em. Keep your eyes and ears open and have a chat. You might just find the most beautiful man you’ll ever meet.
