The Circle of Life [View all]

I'm 46 years old. I tell people how old I am a lot on DU. I'm not sure why that is, other than I talk about a lot of stuff where it's relevant. I'm about as strong as I was when I was in my twenties, but my endurance isn't what it used to be. I get tired easier now days.

Anyway, I've been working a lot of over the past five months, averaging about 66 hours a week. I also have two hours a day commute time. So I haven't had the time or energy to take care of things around the house the way it needs to be. All the leaves were down out of the trees three weeks ago, but I haven't been able to get out there and rake them. So I decided to hire someone to do it for me. There's this young guy we know from church, I'd say he's around 25, who is very poor and looking for work. He picks up odd jobs as much as he can. So I got a hold of him and he was happy to have the work.

He came over yesterday and knocked it out in about two hours. It probably would have taken me twice that long and I would have had to spread it out over a couple of days. I gave him $40 to do it and he was very grateful. We also fed him and gave him some food to take with him. He said that was just as good as the money. Not only did I get something done that would have worn me out for two days, I got to feel good by doing something nice for someone.

I'm a trucker and it is cold now in the part of the country where I do my trucking. It was about 20 degrees F last night when I got out to my stop near Pittsburgh. There is a guy who is 74 years old who works for the same company that I do. We basically have the same route, I just have one more stop than he does. I don't know what this guy is doing driving a semi at that age. I don't think he needs the money. Anyway, the cold air really gets to his lungs. If he's out for too long in it, it really knocks him out. He'll struggle for 15 minutes to get his wind back after being out in cold weather for too long, and that isn't very long.

We came around to our docks at about the same time, him a little before me. I asked him if he needed some help. He was just sitting in his truck when he should have been out disconnecting it to drop it at the dock. He told me he needed a hand. I did the hard part while he did the easier part and we got it done. He was still terribly winded.

We went to a break room while he caught his breath. I told him I would meet him over at his loaded trailer, and told him to just stay in the truck. I'd take care of hooking up the trailer. He was very grateful. After I hooked him up he said that he really owed me. I told him not to worry about it, and that I'd help him anytime.

What does all of this have to do with Buddhism? Well, one day the young guy who raked my leaves will be busy at his job, and being in his 40s will have started to feel his age creeping up on him. He'll hire some young, struggling kid from church to rake his leaves for him, and they'll both be grateful. One day I'll be the old guy struggling at work and a younger driver will help me out. I'll be very grateful and he will feel good about doing something nice for someone. And the old guy? Well, one day he'll be raking someone's leaves.