Beautiful Manners

A person of wisdom and spirituality has very beautiful manners that have grown from genuine respect and love for the whole of humanity. Manners in this sense have nothing to do with culture or education: it is simply a question of humility. When we are at the receiving end of such manners, we feel that some deeper part of us has been honoured. In fact, none of us deserves anything less. (From a Thought for the Day)

Yesterday and the day before I felt I was the fortunate one. I felt I was at the receiving end. Yesterday and the day before, I felt like a deeper part of me was being honoured because I had the honour of meeting Willy.

My sister cleans apartments owned by the Knights of Columbus. When people move out, painters, carpet layers, repair guys and my “Mr. Clean” sister go in and make the place look in tip top shape before the new renters move in. However, a buggered up hand due to carpel tunnel surgery has put my sister out of commission for this kind of work for a while so I’ve stepped in. This is how I came to meet Willy.

I don’t know a whole lot about him except for the little bits and pieces I got when he’d pop in three or four times a day to see how I was progressing in my work and tell me over and over again, “Thank-you, thank-you. You are doing such a marvellous job. I can’t believe it. Thank-you. Thank-you.”

I have helped my sister do some cleaning jobs before and the apartment buildings I have been in were quite nice but this complex I had never been to before. These buildings must have been motel units built back in the 50’s or 60’s – hell maybe even the 40’s, I don’t know for sure. I just know they’re old and the style and colors and shape they’re in, reflect their age and it makes you wonder what you’ll find inside.

The outside walls are cement, the inside wall are made of cheap plywood and poorly built. The windows are one pane, not nearly adequate for the winter months. The cupboards are made of painted boards with sliding doors made out of some kind of thin chip board. The ceiling is the old tiles and the flooring under the dirty carpet that was ripped out is the old battleship tiles.

The building which is covered on the outside with the old stucco and chip glass stuff seem to sit directly on the ground. There has been some effort to modernize over the years with the addition of a ceiling fan, some simple but newer light fixtures and a poorly installed air-conditioning unit where the light of day can be seen all around it. And of course, what I’m always afraid of finding in places like that, mouse droppings - in the cupboard, behind the fridge and behind the stove.

As I pulled on my rubber gloves and got to work I was thinking how sad that people have to live in these kinds of conditions and places when there is so much abundance in our world. And how unfairly and evenly it is distributed. And the reality of the discrepancy between the rich and the poor became even more apparent when I looked out the window and across the street, someone was building a brand new home. And just behind the house across the street, all the way to the top of the mountain, I could see how the landscape was littered with great big huge mansion homes worth anywhere from ¾ to 1 or 2 million dollars.

I was in the middle of contemplating these kinds of thoughts when Willy came breezing in through the front door. “Hello,” he said with a great big smile that travelled from ear to ear. “I’m the fellow that will be moving in here. It’s so kind of you to do this and you’re doing such a great job. Thank-you. Thank-you. I’m so excited and I am so fortunate, so blessed. I’ve been living here for three years already in a bachelor suite just a couple of doors down but now I’m going to move into this one bedroom apartment and they’re putting in new carpets and painting and it will be so much better. I am so fortunate, so blessed to have this.”

“Well, you sound very positive and upbeat and happy about life,” I said. “Tell me about yourself and where you come from.” And his answer to that was.

“Oh, of course. Why wouldn’t I be – positive about life I mean? There are marvellous people here and they’re all good people. Some of them are negative and all they do is think and think but all that does is keep them away from the present. They aren’t here, in the moment I mean. Take you. You’re here right now. In this moment with me. Your present and you’re very much aware. There is an awareness about you but with some people there is no awareness and they drag through life. Oh, sure, life hasn’t turned out like I thought it would but obviously this was my journey as it was meant to be.”

“So where are you from?” I asked.

“I’m from England and I’m so glad I left there. A war was going on in the country and some men saw some terrible, terrible things you know. I slept in the same room as two men who came back from the war and they had hellish nights when they went to sleep. But there was a war in our house too and that set me back because I got sent to an orphanage home and I was locked up there for 10 years because I couldn’t read and they thought I was retarded. But I wasn’t. I was dyslexic. That’s what was wrong with me.”

And then Willy went on to talk to me about this famous author he’s been reading and some of his existential philosophies about life and while he talked to me he quoted Einstein and other famous people he’s learned about and devoured knowledge about. He spoke about the evolution of our world and the changing of consciousness and how he’s made peace with the anger he had held inside and how he was grateful for each new day being what it was. “We came here with nothing” he said: “and we will leave here with nothing so we might as well make the best of what’s in between and live a positive life.”

“I must go now,” I said.

“Of course, of course, and again thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure meeting you. Your energy is so good to be around and you do such fantastic work. You know where I am if you ever want to drop by or if you ever need a hand with anything.”

“Thank you,” I said. “It’s definitely been an honour to meet you too.”

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