Arriving in the old gold rush town, the heat was oppressive, the feeling prevailed that no water existed, as the town did not begin as other’s do, built next to a river or a lake, but came into being because gold in the area was discovered and made many rich Australians.
My Friend met me at the train station, and was happy to see me as we have been friends since university studying philosophy and literature, writing for the schools newspaper. We are friends because there is no need to catch up with each other once a week, though we do not see or talk to each other for a year, in some cases, we can meet again and basically pick up where we last left off in our lives and conversation.
Married to a beautiful woman and father to an incredible little boy, he is currently doing his PhD, researching, writing, exploring the ‘big’ idea, concerned about current society…knowing that, as human beings, we can do a lot better than now, and there are alternatives…
Meeting his little boy was a big deal for me, because I wanted to make a good impression. A man’s son is a pretty big deal, being a father myself, meeting the tiny dude was important to me. Well, he was shy at first, but soon warmed to my presence, exceeding all expectations, he liked me. When mum put him to bed, he shouted out, “Good night, Craig.” You had to hear it but his tone and innocence, his big kindness made me feel great…a lovely little boy.
What my friend and I have in common is the experience of having a few beers or wine and actually having a real conversation. We usually begin on superficial subjects, and move to more important issues like war, education, environment, love, poetry, marriage, writing and important writers… we talked for hours and so much so, lost track of time, realizing we had been talking without any notion of …it was time to go to bed.
The next day, after a wonderful cup of strong coffee, we left the home and went into town to explore Bendigo’s second hand bookshops. Searching through old dusty books is something we have in common. I found a book that has been on my ‘wish list’ for two years, Albert Schweitzer’s On the Edge of the Primeval Forest, bought for $4.50! An amazing find and it is a new and welcome member of my personal library…all due to my good friend.
The weekend flew by and suddenly I was on the train back to Melbourne.
Travelling back to the city amongst the fray actually felt good. Thinking back to our conversations, I felt actually privileged to have conversed with a man, husband, father and philosopher, and the conversation had meaning, food for thought, something to ponder for sometime…
And, too, I had made a new friend, a human being about two feet tall and a smile that would make the hardest of men turn to a life of good works.
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