Memories of someone from long ago, translated…
I’d gone to a church school, there was a classmate who’d wanted to become a priest when he grows up, he lives in the seminary next to the school, and would show up, just for the classes, and leave right afterwards, he’d taken his lunch in the seminary too, he’d not interacted with the rest of us one bit. One semester, he sat right behind me, and, as an avid reader, I’d started discussing the Crusades, and the Knights with him. Slowly, we’d gotten more and more we could talk about, became, the best of friends.
not my photo…
He’d started with the origins of Christianity, took me into the church, as well as the Medieval era, which intrigued me so. My first impressions of the Roman Empire, the Dark Ages, and the Renaissance, came from those ten-minute break sessions between the classes in which we conversed. For a middle school student, he surprised me with his wealth of knowledge; sometimes, it’s, as if, we were, from different planets, and, at times, we’d become, companions who traveled through time together. He’d not made good grades, but, he’s not stressed out like my other classmates on the exams, he’d worked hard, to complete the homework assignments from the school, as well as the seminary, he was set about his own future, like God had already, arranged everything for him too, this, made me envious of him.
After we graduated, I’d gotten on the track of continuing my education, and, ran around the world; and he, kept on this journey that God had set for him, but, I’d not heard from him again. However, he’d never, vanished from my memories. Thinking back, I’d gone to Augustine for high school, went to the Tehran Center to volunteer in college, and, I’d fallen deeply into European histories as a pastime from work, actually, all of these were, the effects of the psychological maps laid down for me, long ago, inside that small classroom.
not my photograph…
Later on as I’d traveled to Europe, I’d loved going into the churches, sat, on that long bench, to allow myself to saturate, to enjoy that moment of peace and quiet. In the candlelight of the dusk, I’d often recalled that classmate who’d gone down a different path during our shared youth, it’s, as if, he was, still nearby, telling me about his adolescent dreams of becoming a priest.
He’d influenced me to this very day, and having this sort of a friend is a gem.
This is, how great an influence someone can have on you, you may not even realize it yet, but, everybody you come across can become this guy to this other boy.
Life, the Obstacle Course 