The Curse of a Visionary

"...Most great thoughts are ahead of their time...The world is not prepared to grasp the thoughts of a visionary...yet the immutable laws of the universe will prevail and in time...these thoughts will be lauded as genius...yet only by that generation's cutting edge thinkers..."

"Where did that come from?" I asked as we peddled our bikes, two-abreast, along the side of a quiet road.

"I was just thinking about all of the great thinkers...the visionaries...they seemed cursed..."

"Is it really a curse or a blessing?...I would think it delightful to be able to see the truth...clearly...and have the inside information on the world..."

"Don't you?  Think about how frustrated you get, with some of the people, within an organization, for their inability to see reality!  If I have heard you confess that once...I have heard a hundred times..."

"I am just airing my frustrations...with someone that I trust...it never shows in my work..."

"That is my point...you know and they don't...you see (we see) and they can't...and that kills you...even though you never let on!"

"Visionaries are a different class of people...many people desire to be called that and they strive to that end...without knowing the true consequences of that choice.  The best visionaries know how to operate in the normal world...the worst ones live on the extreme...and are never accepted..."

Our peddling pace began to slow as the intensity of the discussion increased.  I noticed that this always happened.  It was as if we subconsciously diverted energy from peddling to thinking...or walking to thinking...whatever we were doing, the pace of it slowed...

On second thought...it may be that we simply slowed, whatever we were doing, to extend the time together...it was an interesting effect...the cause was known (our discussions) and the impact was always positive...INSIGHT!

These times seemed like metaphysical dramas...I enjoyed participating in them...having numerous roles...audience, actor, stage hand...but seldom the director...that was his job and his alone...unless of course he abdicated it to me...

"There is a convenience store up ahead...I think it has a bench or two...perhaps a picnic table...let's stop and talk there...I do not want to miss any detail of this discussion," I suggested.

He agreed and stopped talking...for the moment and our pace quickened...both of us wanting to get back to the thought at hand...and to also give our legs a rest...

After grabbing a cup of coffee from the store...we found, as I had thought, a VERY tidy, small group of round cement tables and park-like benches, each with its own trash container.

I could see that this was popular with the locals.  There were intimate groups playing cards, others talking what seemed to be whispered gossip, some just sitting quietly enjoying the sun and breeze mix.  When the owners of the store (an elderly couple) were not serving someone inside, they were out, mixing with the patrons...sometimes taking orders and running back and forth, as best they could, between the merchandise, the customer and the cash register.

The flow of people, in and out, was constant.  As they each left...they not only cleaned up after themselves, but gathered something from others who were not yet done..."as long as I am heading that way...can I take that for you?" I heard many times...

These people, bar none, left the place a bit better for their having been there.  You may think this silly or an exaggeration, but while we were there, a lady brought some fresh cut flowers and placed them on each table...YES IT IS TRUE!  and she left a huge bucket of the left-over irises next to a bench...with a "take a couple home and enjoy them" sign...

It was quaint and an excellent example of "community."  What touched me for a moment was when one elderly patron walked out of the store and sat among "old" friends.  After a long discussion about "yesterday's high school football game," he stood to leave and his friends said, "have one more cup of coffee and stick around..."  He politely declined, with the excuse that he only brought enough money for one cup...suddenly there was enough money on the table to buy the store's brewer!

The atmosphere nearly distracted us from the reason for stopping...

...ALMOST...

We found a 2-place table that was situated at one end of the area and sat.

As we walked towards the table, I could see subtle head nods, elbow jabs and whispered (or mouthed) "Who are they?" questions. 

"We may have trespassed on sacred ground," I snickered as we sat...

"You noticed?" he replied with a not so subtle grin...

 "It is for the same reason that our being here is being questioned...that visionaries are cursed!"

"Do you think that our bikes are safe being parked out of sight...over there?" I asked...

"I have a feeling that you could leave a hundred dollar bill over there and it would be safe...these are a different people!"

With that...he stood up and asked the question publicly..."Does anyone here intend to steal our bikes?  This young man is a bit nervous about you guys..."

The crowd roared in laughter...

I wanted to crawl into a hole...better yet...I wanted to dig a hole and shove him in it...

That was how he was...I actually had grown accustomed to it...

For the next 15 minutes...people walked up to us and introduced themselves and asked what we were doing here...and on and on...

He politely answered their questions...and they walked off...to resume their activities...

"You are absolutely crazy!" I laughed...

"Our presence would have ruined this group's entire day...if I hadn't done what I had done," he replied...

"We were interlopers...perhaps even a threat to their perceived status quo...now we are part of the community..."

"..once they saw that we shared the same ungrounded fears, that they did...the tension eased...and in their introductions...which were done subconsciously to show you that you had nothing to fear...they themselves quelled their fears..."

"That's interesting!" I quietly noted, "Can we go back on our discussion about the curse of visionaries?"

"We are on that discussion and never left it...not even when we stopped talking a half-hour ago..."

"How so?" I asked...

"The entire visionary drama has been playing out since our original thought..."

"We came upon that interesting thought...and to us it made perfect sense...reality became VERY clear..."

"We pondered the truth and decided that we needed to do something about it...which in our case was stop and discuss it further..."

"We happened upon a small community...and jumped right into the middle of it..."

"The community was a bit apprehensive about our presence..."

"If you noticed...when we appeared on the scene...all of their regular activity ceased..."

"Not until their fears where shown to be ungrounded...did they return to their routine...and they accepted us into their midst..."

"That is the curse of the visionary...and embedded within our drama was the answer to overcoming that curse!"

"Seek acceptance and quell the fears of the community...show them that you share the same ungrounded fears as they do...and wait for the invitation to be among them...and make the place better for your having been there...and guess what...NO CURSE!"

"You set this up?" I laughed...

"I simply took advantage of a situation that is ever present..."

That's when I noticed that the entire area was dead quiet and everyone was turned towards us...it was a "creepy" feeling...they were intently listening to us...

Not letting on to the fact that I had noticed...I said, "Man this is a beautiful place...I wish I had enough money to buy you another cup of coffee...and we could stay a bit longer...

Within minutes there was enough change on our table to buy the coffee brewer in the store...