Last night we went into San Francisco to have dinner with a friend of ours, a college classmate of Bob's who was briefly in town. Going into the City is always a treat, but this was special as we got to see their lovely Marina condo. He graciously showed us around it and shared a delicious Zinfandel wine with us. Before we knew it was time for dinner. He told us there are at least 30 restaurants within a 10 minute walk of their place. Talking over dinner was wonderful, to share back and forth what we've done in the last year. I was particularly struck by his telling of a conversation, he and another classmate of Bob's had in which they asked each other what the purpose of a spiritual life is.
One said "being present and acceptance of what is," while the other said "just acceptance is the key." I thought about that and said, "for me, being kind is high on my list." Going home on BART, we got onto the train car and Bob found a seat right away. I didn't and moved to stand by Bob. The fellow next to him, a quite scruffy looking skinny young guy with a skate board, saw me and immediately stood up and offered me his seat. I profusely thanked him for being so gracious and he shrugged and said "of course." As I watched him, I thought about how you just can't tell what a person is made of by how they look. As the train went under the Bay, a woman walked up and down the aisle begging for money to get home. We instinctively averted our eyes. I noticed that the guy with the skate board was the only person who pulled out his wallet and gave her a dollar. I thought for me the Golden Rule is the key to my spiritual practice: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Humbled by my hardness of heart, I thought if everyone followed the Golden Rule, as the young man did, our world would surely be a better kinder place to live.
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