Metro Gentlemen

The Stranger

You never know who you are going to meet at any given time. It was around 9:30 p.m. on a cold, rainy night in London. I went to a pizza place near my flat. As I walked in, I spotted an older man with a grey beard paying for his dinner. He was around his late 50s and was dressed in conservative clothing. The man working at the counter took my order and after I handed him my five pound note, he gave me the coins. I looked at the abundance of coins and asked if I could have pounds instead of the smaller change he handed me. The older man looked at me and said, “Money is money.” I smiled and sat down to count the coins as I waited for my order.

The older man asked for my name and after I replied, he began to speak about religion and described that each letter of my name was an acronym for love, unity, intelligent, etc. I had no clue what he was talking about, but decided to go with it. He then asked me where I was from and I told him I was from Texas in the U.S. He replied with “oh, well as far as Bush…” I interrupted and said “Whatever you say, I agree!” He then said, “Well you don’t know what i was about to say.” I told him that I know how most people feel about him around here. He then mentioned how politicians are corrupted, money is evil and can destroy many lives. He also said how religions are all different, yet in God’s eyes, we are all the same.

I didn’t agree with everything he said but I found him to be very wise and philosophical. I felt a deep connection with him and found him intriguing. He knew a lot about God, and wasn’t shy from expressing his opinions any topic.

“Pollution in the air, the ice caps are melting…” he continued as I sat there and ate my personal pan pizza. Dinner and a show, sounds good to me.

One thing he said stuck in my head for the rest of the night. Life is about taking chances. He also said everything is about money in this world and many people do almost anything just to get it.

“We can’t live with money and we can’t live without it,” he said.

It is up to us to decide how we want to live our lives and how we should appreciate what we have. I believe life should be about beauty and love. There is so much hatred out there in the world and many people just can’t appreciate these two simple things. I love art because it shows a glimpse of love and the beauty of people, places and things. Art provides an escape from reality and it sometimes makes the world appear less complicated than it actually is.