Author: Kristine Binder

Today after my workout I went in the sauna. While in there, a lady was speaking loudly on the phone. I wasn’t paying much attention to her, but to the to young girls siting near me. 
“I wish that polack would shut up!” One whispers to the other. 
“Right?! Stupid foreigners!…”whispers the other. 
I open my eyes, tune in and start to say something to the girls but instead ask the woman politely in my broken LITHUANIAN (yes she was not even Polish but Lithuanian…. she was talking to a child I think) to take her conversation out of the sauna. 
She looked at me with amazement and embarrassment, apologized and stepped outside the sauna. 
After she walked out, the girls looked at me… 
“Fucking immigrants. You all need to go back home.” Said one of the girls. 
I got up to leave and looked at the girls and said,
“I was born here. And who knows… maybe she was too….. more tolerance and kindness …. less judgement will get you far in life.” 
And I walked out shaking. 
Not sure if I said the right thing but I knew I had to say something. 
More tolerance and kindness. 
Less judgments. 
(And I really need to work on the Lithuanian language skills!!) 
#forwardisapace
Peace.

I am back…..
After months away it is time to come back to my writing. So much has happened in the months away and I will try and find the words to write about those months but for now….I am back and ready to write again. I hope that you all are ready to read…
#forwardisapace
Peace.

 This morning I decided on a whim to take 13 to Chinatown. I felt the need to buy a Buddha and Chinatown seemed like a good spot. 13 LOVES Chinatown and was a willing companion on the adventure.
We parked on a sidestreet and just decided to walk in and out of shops looking at all sorts of knickknacks. I knew I would know what I was looking for…when I found it. I think I just opened myself to the right thing finding me…and enjoying time with my son. I love spending time with him and seeing the world through his eyes.
He had only one request/destination…a candy shop that he loves.  So we walked, we window shopped, we people watched….we looked at all sorts of things and talked to many interesting people.
We walked into a shop and I rubbed the belly of large happy Buddha by the front door.  I walked in and looked at all the things….one thing about Chinatown…every shop is small and crowded with all sorts of items. Looking for something specific is futile…like a needle in a haystack.
So as I wandered the shop, a sweet little Asian woman came up to me. She asked what I was looking for….I responded, “I am not really sure. I think I will know when I find it.”  
She took my arm and walked me to an aisle of shelves. She started telling me about the Buddhas on the shelf….How did she know that is what I wanted? Each “style” of statue had a story….
One caught my eye…she was unique….there was not another on the shelf (among the 100’s) like her and I had not seen one like her at all in our shopping. I felt drawn to her. The woman told me the Buddha I had chosen helps people with problems.The old woman took my arm again….she pulled me to the back of the store to show me an altar. She told me that was what I was to do with my Buddha. She explained every part of the altar in broken English to my son and I. I stood, towering over this woman, suddenly feeling very small. I was entranced by her. She then reached onto her shirt and pulled out a mala she was wearing. She took hold the one I was wearing and looked up at me holding hers and mine at the same time.  I felt as though I was in the presence of something special. We stood for a moment…quiet in the back of the store. She let go, took my arm again and took me to another part of the store. She showed me a 3 sided gold Buddha ….I loved it. She then disappeared, returning a few minutes later with a box for my 2 figures.
My son felt the need to have a Buddha from the same place and got a tiny one.  We stood at the counter with her as she carefully wrapped our figures and placed them into boxes and a bag. As we left, she took my arm again…..she pulled me out of the store (hhmm….she was done with us!) and on the street she pointed…She told me where to go to get the statues blessed at a small temple.
We walked around the streets, visited the candy shop,  saw some interesting medicinal items for sale, ate some amazing dim sum and then found the temple to get the statues and other items we purchased blessed.
When we got home I did a little research on the statue I had bought.
Well. The statue is of Guan Yin/Kwan Yin. She is synonymous with the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, the pinnacle of mercy, compassion, kindness and love. Being of bodhi or enlightenment, one who has earned to leave the world of suffering and is destined to become a Buddha, but has forgone the bliss of nirvana with a vow to save all children of god. In Sanskrit she’s known as Padma pani – “Born of the Lotus”, the lotus symbolizing purity, peace and harmony. Commonly known in the West as the Goddess of Mercy. She has been compared to the Virgin Mary. Quan Yin is a shortened form of a name that means One Who Sees and Hears the Cry from the Human World.

So I feel the need to share a story. Delete if you want. And I can’t post a picture because he asked me not to.
Tony. I went into the pool store to get some help with my disgusting pool. Tony was the first person I encountered. I asked if they do on site maintenance. He said no but some guys do it “on the side”. I hired him on the spot. He just struck he as a genuine young man.
A week later he came to work on my pool. I hung out in the yard puttering in case he needed something (and to be honest I was a little leery as a single woman.) so we started to talk. Turns out he is a young man who got in trouble with the law and had some bad breaks. He “looks” the part too but I have learned from my pal, Molly, not to judge a book….look at the eyes. That is where you see the soul.
So he continued to tell me his story. I listened. Everything he knows about pools, mechanics and chemicals he taught himself. He wants to go back to school but is determined to pay off his legal fees first because he “hates owing money”. As we talked I could tell he is a smart guy. As a teacher I could see the kid he once was. The misfit. The unconventional learner that didn’t “fit the mold” and then just got disinterested…. We talked politics and the legal system and history and chemistry. He worked hard and then thanked me as he left. He said I was one of the few customers that talked to him and listened to him. He is coming back today …. “Just to check on things and make sure all is working correctly…”
I asked what the charge was for this…. He said “nothing…. You were nice.”
Tony will get a little extra today towards paying off those legal fees. And I will listen again.