Missionaries
This is my small ode to the people who leave you with something you'd never have had that lasts for the rest of your life.
Mrs. Ostendorff who loaned us scratchy tapes of classical music, in which I heard Bach for the first time and learned to try to whistle fugues. I always liked Bach and I never got Mozart. And to this day I hear Bach and think of those poorly recorded tapes.
Jason, who made a skater out of me even though I never did skate. I watch them on television and exchange lingo with the skater/punk kid across the street. He's baffled that I'd know anything but happy that I appreciate his attempts at kickflips in his driveway.
Back to music, Van Halen's 1984 is a special album. A kid down the street in Portland had it and I won't forget listening to Jump for the first time. Trust me, I'm not into "classic rock" further than the extent of that experience (and some others like it - Pink Floyd moments lets call them), and yet because of that time I always smile when I hear it.
A guy named Scott - "xars" - who told me on listless summer days stories out of The Lord of the Rings. It was because of him that I chose Tolkien's book over a caligraphy set for my 13th birthday. It's the reason why I name a lot of my software by picking similar things from Middle Earth.
Another guy, John, many years ago when I was working in Hawaii, took me to the top of Olo Mana and away from the tourists in Waikiki. Before I die I want to go back to that mountain and climb it again.
Authors like Helen Dewitt, who made me believe in books and reading as a grown up.
M.H. who taught me that you can be better at what you do by simply having higher standards.
My mind pops full of experiences like this - people I encountered and left an imprint for me to carry as I'm hauling life around with me. I try to take no small notice of the fact that the small experiences I have with people can turn out to be mission work with a good book, a nice riff, or an attitude towards life.
As time goes on, I'm more and more open to the missionaries around me. Most of that is due to the experiences of looking back and feeling ministered to - refreshed, rejuvenated, venturing into a world that I didn't know existed. So it's with a bit of shock that I realize that as I get more and more open, there are a lot of people around who began closed and become more so as they move forward in life. "Closed hearts, closed minds" is what I put in my personal message on MSN while thinking about this. Depressing people; toxic people as Milton Glaser may describe them.
Who are your missionaries? Do you do missionary work? If you can't answer either question, I'd ask that you stay away from me.
10:23:49 PM 
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