Each Mind Is A World

Look.
My uncle Renato decided to leave home.
For no apparent reason.
He left my aunt.
My cousins.
And at the height of his 60 years.
He left.
He was already teaching in the countryside of Rio.
Rented a little house in the middle of the woods.
And stayed there.
The family thought it was absurd.
My aunt, furious, said.
Renato is no longer a boy for these adventures.
But off he went.
Always smiling.
Happy.
The way he is.
Even from afar.
He never let anything be missing.
Every month he showed up.
Paid all the bills.
And went back to the woods.
And then.
I kept thinking.
What was missing was a sincere conversation with Renato.
Without hysteria.
Without verbal aggression.
A good talk.
With love.
Since we so often lose the chance to be better with one another.
Because we don’t listen.
Yesterday.
A young man in a hurry.
Went up the escalator.
Asked a lady to let him pass.
And she didn’t move.
He shouted.
She didn’t move.
That’s when he decided to push her.
Luckily.
Another young man and I caught her.
Just in time.
She only hurt her arm.
But it could have been worse.
The young man, in the peak of his rush.
Didn’t realize the lady was deaf.
She couldn’t hear.
Here on the corner of my street.
A car ran a red light.
I found it absurd.
The old ladies shouted against the car.
And up ahead the car was stopped by the police.
And the man driving.
Distressed.
Pointed to his wife in the back seat.
Pregnant.
About to give birth.
But.
Back to my uncle.
He died.
He was hiking with his students on a trail.
Felt a pain.
And died.
But before leaving.
He left a little letter for the family.
Saying he had discovered a very serious illness.
And he didn’t want to be a burden.
He didn’t want his illness to stop his children from living a full life.
And didn’t want it to stop the woman he loved most in life from being happy.
I don’t know if he was right.
Or wrong.
But sometimes it’s better to ask.
Each mind is a world.