He was employed in one of those few positions in life that comes with a label, no one required his name for they knew what he was. In fact I only took notice and spoke to him momentarily because of a deep seated feeling within myself that I was in his way.

I was standing reading a bulletin on the wall as he approached and glided past me, his mop followed his movements gracefully as though they had performed this act on stage before thousands of people year after year.

He was cleaning the floor without missing a spot and as he approached my little space I felt in the way and out of place. To break the tension rising within myself I said the first thing that came into my head, "How's it going today?".

I had seen him a hundred times before this day but did not know his name or anything about him as a person, nor had I ever spoke to him before. He had also seen me many times, and had taken notice of me only briefly as he does everyone who passes by.

His answer to my inquiry was not unusual at all, "Doing Great, How about yourself?", yet it was in the way he said it that somehow assured me that I was not at all in his way. It was as though we had been friends for years and each of us had altered their direction of travel to avoid inconveniencing the other many times before.

I have learned never to prejudge a person on their appearance or position in life, that light came on inside my brain the moment this man spoke to me.
"Pretty Good", was my reply, "I'll be out of your way in a minute." I said, even though I knew he didn't consider me a hindrance of any kind, it was just one of those automatic responses we condition into ourselves.

As I said it and realized how silly it was, a slight smile appeared on his face as if he knew what I was thinking. "No hurry", "I've got a few hundred square feet to go before I get to that one", he said. His manner seemed very at ease and unhurried, while people by the hundreds rushed past him with only their immediate destination foremost on their minds.

What was it about this quiet man that made him seem so different from the crowd, so set apart yet so much in place among the surrounding multitude. Perhaps I shall never know, perhaps he holds the answers we seek. Did I want to find out?, do I have the time?, questions unanswered, as the quiet man, glided by me leaving an opportunity to reflect upon life's ebb and flow.......

© Bruce Larson*Moore
Slana, AK