A Green Mile of memories

One of my favorite movies of all time is Stephen King's "The Green Mile". It tells of the great, wonderful gift of second sight and tortured supernatural abilities of a kindhearted, simple and loving man, who though convicted of murder (of which he was innocent, but refused to defend himself against), became loved and cherished by everyone. Here was a great giant of a man, more than six feet tall and maybe over two hundred pounds in weight, but inside him beat the heart of an innocent and gentle child.

I use this reference to introduce my 'Passing Ship' story.

In high school I met an Art teacher, his name was Sydney, he was a brilliant artist. Sydney was the kindest person I ever knew, a tall man, slight of frame, well dressed and well spoken. Soft of speech and gentle in demeanor, mannerism and grace, he exuded a frail but confident outward appearance. We all loved this gentle, kind, unselfish and caring teacher who went out of his way to be not just a teacher, but a friend with a listening ear for all who needed it.

Sydney had been an acclaimed artist with showings in the United States and other places of which I am unsure. We were from the Caribbean, so that was a great feat of achievement for this lovely man.

The man he was, the teacher he was however, was overshadowed by a dark brooding side. I believed Sydney to be somehow schizophrenic. There were times when he was not always able to distinguish his own thoughts and ideas from actual reality. He was not violent toward people, but toward things, and sometimes he seemed to have a split personality. Interestingly though, this trait never manifested in any of his classes. They all went wonderfully, and we were always sad whenever the class came to an end.

I was completely fascinated by this man and his ability to be one thing this minute and something completely out of character the next minute. Sydney had a special fondness for me, he treated me like someone extremely special. He would give me books on art to read, speak to me about the art he had been creating and try to encourage creativity in me. Granted I was terrible at actual Art itself, the class was a requirement, a part of the curriculum which I had no voice in choosing. I did my best (which was not really good at all). Yet, it was one of my best classes for the freedom which it offered. For the innocuous teenager from a family of seven children, this was a blessing for me.

Sydney was not the type of man to be inappropriate in his behavior, I think he saw in me a kindred spirit. I was one of the lost souls wandering the earth, not really sure if it belonged or had been mistakenly deposited in a time out of time, or beyond time.

There was a group of us who were his favorite in the class, there was Dian, my closest schooldays friend, Alladin, me (Novel), Trevor and some others whose names elude me at this time, so sorry about that. Anyway, Sydney, in one of the classes suggested we meet at his house to view his art and meet his family. We took him up on his offer and met his wife and two children, it was a great visit.

He had learned that I was/am an aquarian. Hanging on his wall was a large painting entitled 'Aquarian Dawn', I always wondered about the inspiration for it, but never asked, I was young back then, the painting was really lovely.

We went on trips to discover art and nature, 'Lad' played the guitar and we would sing badly and happily, we had great fun.

On a second trip to his house we found his wife in tears and general unhappiness. Sydney had gotten mad and thrown the TV and electronics in the Canal near their house. Demons had inhabited them and they had to go. Yet there he sat looking as innocent as a lamb, greeting us as if everything was quite right with the world. The poor woman had been terrified. She explained that he travelled regularly for treatment abroad in the US. He went off for a while to receive some assistance.

Sydney returned to school and all seemed well with the world. He painted a beautiful mural at the front of the school that was admired by all. Life carried on, Sydney seemed fine.

Until the day he decided to leave home stark naked, came to school and proceeded to make beautiful changes to the already faultless mural. He was calmly and quietly working on his art, oblivious to everything and everyone around him.

That was the day they took him away from the school and he never returned as our teacher. How sad we were to have lost our great friend and mentor.

We went to visit him at home, his wife and children had fled to the relatives in the US, he was all alone. His family sent him off again for treatment in the US. We never saw hm again until years later when a friend and I stopped by his house.

The roof had holes in it where the rain just poured in freely. He would not allow anyone in to fix it. Somehow, he recognized me, gave us a tour of the house. Had I been alone, I would not have gone in, my friend stood six feet two inches tall, I felt that strapping fellow alone could keep me from harm. I doubted that Sydney would have been capable of harm, but I had not seen him for a long time, so erring on the side of caution seemed prudent.

The house was generally clean and well kept, he seemed to be coping well enough under the circumstances. The paintings had all been sold or given away, except for two, the Aquarian Dawn and another were still hanging there, still beautiful, in contrast to the very sad plight of this wonderful person who had no control over his behavior.

Yet all I saw was the same beautiful person whom I had met and cared deeply about all these years. I still had some of his books which I returned to him. His extended family lived close by and saw to his needs, they did all they could to keep him comfortable and fed. I had brought him a few things for which he thanked me graciously.

Sydney died a few years ago. I was out of the country at the time and only found out some time after. He is finally at peace and free from whatever demons inhabited his person from time to time.

This gentle giant of a man taught me the to see the beauty and light in the world. I learned from a somewhat impressionable age that light and dark can co-exist in the best of us. The world, I learned is a series of Ying and Yang, Hell and Heaven, good and bad, acceptance and rejection and good versus evil.

I learned that good is balanced by dark, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction (Newton's third law).

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Translated from the Latin, Newton's laws read:

First law

Every body continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a straight line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it.

Second law

The change of motion of an object is proportional to the force impressed; and is made in the direction of the straight line in which the force is impressed.

Third law

To every action, there is always opposed an equal reaction; or, the mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal and directed to contrary parts.

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Sydney never stood a chance!

Forces had been impressed upon him, his will was not in proportion to the forces impressed upon him and he had no control of the contrary motions impressed upon him.

From whence come these forces upon mortal lives. Such that they overpower us and hold us at ransom.

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I learned that there are forces in this world, those which we cannot see with our bare eyes, but we sometimes feel them, albeit unconsciously, in a shiver or a sudden feeling of Deja vu. We have no direct control over that which we cannot perceive or touch, nevertheless they are there. Some people are just more attuned to life and the universe than others are.

I LEARNED NOT TO BE QUICK TO JUDGEMENT (I relapse in this sometimes, being only human after all).

I LEARNED THAT LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, AND MUCH LIKE THE MANY LOVELY FLORAL PETALS SCATTERED ACROSS THE LANDSCAPE OF LIFE, WE SHOULD BE TOLERANT AND FAIR TO EACH OTHER.

Weigh carefully the virtues v sins:

In Christian tradition, the seven heavenly virtues combine the four cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude with the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity.

Although they are not directly mentioned in the Bible, there are parallels with the seven things God is said to dislike in the Book of Proverbs. Behaviors or habits are classified under this category if they directly give rise to other immoralities. According to the standard list, they are pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth, which are contrary to the seven capital virtues.

BE KIND ONE TO ANOTHER.