I met Friedrich on the VoungVision New Year’s Gathering again. After years of silence from him I was very surprised to see him there.
The little I know of his path during that time sounds rough, hard, confusing and cold. He looked like a beaten dog to be honest. His eyes a constantly downcast, his eyes often far away. It also seemed that he needed a lot of sleep and a lot of recovery from a very draining time.
Approaching him I got the feeling of approaching a hurt animal. One wrong step and I might scare it away. So I approached with caution and very soft playfulness. This was where my inner child would gently step forward.
And while he still would not seek eye contact, I noticed that after some of our conversations he went away humming to himself.
That made me smile.
When he left, he even took the time to say a quick goodbye to me.
It made me smile again.
I think when we see someone who is in deep inner turmoil like this, we all have to wish to “rescue” that person. But it’s important to remember the following: The person in front of us has to be open for being rescued for this to work. Some people are just not there yet. And sometimes, no matter how much we want to, it is simply not our place to do the rescuing. Some people have to do that themselves.
And sometimes simply being there with a person is enough.
Sometimes no words are needed.