Yesterday, a fellow member of our Zen Center called me and asked
me whether I could take her mother and her brother (who is mentally
handicaped) to the bus station, in the evening.
I told her that I would be at their apartment at 8:20 PM.
I arrived a little earlier, and helped them to take the luggage
to the car. Her brother, not surprisingly, started to get agitated
(He has a kind of autism, which means that any change in the daily
routine is problematic).
As we traveled to the bus station, he started to get more and
more agitated (He is 23 years old, but, emotionally, he is more like
a 10 or a 12 years-old).
At the bus station, we had to open the main bag in order to
search for his medicine. I went to a local bar in order to get the
pill divided in two and get a cup of coffee and milk. We managed to
make him take the medicine and sip a little of coffee and milk. He
was still very agitated, and we started to wonder whether it would be
possible for him to travel like that. He talked about all the things
that he wanted to do, but he had been allowed to do. He talked about
the places that he wanted to visit, but his mother had not taken him
to.
Finally, the medicine start to work. He became calmer. I managed
to help his mother with the luggage and they boarded the bus. Then,
finally, five minutes before the bus left, he decided to climb out of
the bus. He wanted to give us a hug. Then he returned to his place.
The bus left on time.
Talk about interdependence. Who was the main beneficiary ?
Current Book Discussion: Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
