When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. John 13:12-17
I was watching a show the other day
That showcased the stories of African Americans
Who had made a significant contribution
To future history
Ok I was impressed,
But was also struck by
The sameness of them all
I felt distant from them
Sort of
Felt related to them
Sort of
As I some times do
In the places where
The working classes
Reside
Yea the sameness of the stories
I love Michelle Obama’s story
By the way
But boy
Would I like to know more about?
Father of her’s
Just curious
What drove a man
To work
As sick as his was
What is this formula?
To make a man
That love’s and treats
His family
As it should be treated
These are the questions
That are always on mind Anyway
I was wondering
If any one is doing film shorts
About the common man
The guy who waits on your table
The doorman
The teacher who teaches your
Kids
Gas station attendants
Repair men
Doctors, lawyers and Indian chiefs
I was wondering
Because what I have found
Are so many wonderful stories
That these people
Tend to have
And need to share
"Shine Jesus Shine"
Stories of people
Including this guy I met the other day
The shoe shine man
Now I am a black man
Over 50
Shoe shinning has many
Meanings in black culture
They were viewed
As people who were near
The seats of power
Some time privy to insider information
From clients who viewed them
As service boys
As props
Instead of as men
Black viewed them as people
In the know
And I used this piece of information
When sizing up
My quarry for conversation
<.>THIS IS THE STORY OF THE SHOE SHINE BOY
Anyway
The shoe shine Boy
Got to say it
As I know it
Was a older gentlemen
Brazilian
And had set up a shoe shine stand
In front of the restaurant
Brazilian
That is next door,
No
Attached to my building
When I walk out my door
I walk into Brazil
Anyway
He and I have been eyeing each other up
For the past couple of days
I have learned to let people
Get used to me
As I can some times be a sight
Anyway we finally started talking
And he told me a story
This shoe shiner
Of losing a wife recently to cancer
Of working in a school in Brazil
He told a story
Of letting go
And of leaving
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
The current president of
Brazil shined .shoes as a kid
Where did I remember this from?
And I know that shoe shiners
Is a part of a culture in Brazil
Ok where was I
My new friend
Told me in a deep
But singsong voice
That he had taught school in Brazil
He shines shoes in Newark
And New York now
He told me of how people in America
Look at him
Compared to people in Brazil
How American Brazilians
Don’t get it either
That he shines shoes
Because he wants too
He told me of how they
Assume he is stupid
He told me that
After living in a place
That was beautiful
And poor
With a wife that he
Loved and lost
Of how
It felt good to give every thing up
His homeland
His house
His married children
Who no longer cared
Or at least had time to care
He told me
That He still has money in the bank
But wont use it until he needs it
He told me of how
He looks to shining shoes
As a way of seeking
The answers that he needs
He is studying people
Now
From a distance
Now
Close up
In the shadow of in your face
Still studying them
And their ways
And he believes
That in this way
He will some how subjugate himself
To god
And to man
And in this minimalist approach
To life
To Will
To change
That he will regain
The freshness of his Youth
He will change his sheets
And heal his soul
He didn’t tell me this
I know the dance
I knew it when he started telling me
And that’s why he told me
Anyway
I propose that he is simply
Housecleaning
Cleaning his baggage out
Not removing
But understanding the scars
That he recently received
I propose
That he has left the world as we know it
And lives in a different place
I won’t say for sure
That he and I
Will be fast friends
Damaged grizzly bears like
To share a salmon or two
And then move on
But
But he understood the look
Of a survivor in my eyes
And told me just a piece of
In whose house he resides
So I turned
And left my shoe shine
Friend
In front of my house
Shinning the shoes
Of a young arrogant Brazilian boy
Who thought that he
Was man enough
To have shoes shined
In the first place
I am fortunate t
That I could always look
This shoe shine man
And see him as a man
A person
As a person who just happens to shine shoes
And this wasn’t a there but for the grace of God
Go I
This just is
As it should be
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