Feel In the Blanks
Feel In The Blanks
By Curtis Johnson
After watching the weather reports, Mr. Cee, who lived in California, called his sister in Brooklyn. He misdialed and reached young Mr. Dee in Pennsylvania. Their conversation quickly turned to weather and sports.
The two men soon moved on to more serious matters, and the young Mr. Dee began opening up to a stranger. The more the young man expressed his feelings in his story, Mr. Cee saw himself in the young man. As Mr. Dee continued speaking, Mr. Cee saw some empty spaces like blanks being skipped, but he refused to interrupt and kept listening very intensely. The older gentleman sensed Mr. Dee needed someone to listen to him until he was ready for input. At the same time, Mr. Cee wondered how different his life might have been had someone listened to his heart with love, compassion, and understanding.
Young Mr. Dee then paused and invited Mr. Cee to speak into his life. This was an easy task, because he had already walked that bumpy road, flew those unfriendly skies, and swam that muddy river. The blanks that he noticed in the dialogue was part of the life he had lived. It was as if the older man was watching a movie episode of his own life. He was able to help the young gentleman chart a course that he had already sailed. He not only saw the blanks that the young man either ignored or denied, but he experienced and felt them as a young man.
Therefore, Mr. Cee was able to fill in the blanks, because he could feel in the blanks. When the young man shared about the pain and deep struggles of his marriage and wanted ‘out’, Mr. Cee, who was in reality an older Mr. Dee, was able to feel the same pain and stir him in a different direction. He taught him that marriage not only needed love between two people to survive and thrive, but that the two of them also needed a three-fold covenant that included God.
Before they finished, in addition to the marital lessons, Mr. Cee showed him several values necessary for success in life. They were: The value of being in control of his emotions. The value of a personal relationship with God. And the value of being dedicated to the service of others. Mr. Cee was able to help Mr. Dee, because he was able ‘to f e e l” in the blanks of the young man’s life. And also because as an older man, those blanks had “already been filled” in his own life.
Cj10292015
|