Pinsky meets Mehmet
May 21, 2009
Things seem to be happening for Pinsky. Now, he’s found a new friend down there in Mexico:
“I met the most extraordinary man, on the beach yesterday,” he writes. “This man was praying. He had his little mat out in the sand and he was praying east. At first I thought he’d lost something. I was going to offer to help him find whatever it was that was down there in the sand. I quickly figured it out. This supplication was amazing. Oh, I’m not going to convert from cranky, liberal, pragmatic Buddhist asshole to Islam, but I have to tell you – this man was well met. He looked up at me when he finished his prayers and said: Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you. His statement was so matter-of-fact. I must have looked at him like I believed he was crazy, because he smiled kindly, the crowsfeet around his eyes splayed beautifully, and in that moment, I wanted to be the man he was waiting for. I wanted to apologize for my tardiness, and I wasn’t late. I was unknown. I was three cervezas and an hour of love-making with Inka, into the Caribbean afternoon. But I felt ‘known.’ “Thelonious Pinsky,” I said and I put out my hand.
"Mehmet,” he said. “I am called Mehmet.”
"My friends call me Pinsky, or Pins."
"Pinsky?"
I don't know if a smile can be wise, or if it can contain wisdom. Mehmet's smile was disarming and kind, and ya, it semed wise, as if he knew nothing under the sun was black and white -- it's all grey and it always has been, and it always will be -- the end.