That happened a little while ago when I remembered
my grandparents squeeze and I was painting, on this sun-
ny Sunday, in this picturesque Mediterranean village, so
cruelly bright.
I saw him coming from the beginning of the street,
where a stall sells freshly squeezed orange juice. Walk-
ing slowly and swaying a backpack. He was approaching
little by little, looking through the stained-glass window
of a gallery, Turkish-style natural thread clothes, Anatolya
rugs, the watercolours of various artists, until he saw me.
He approached with that ramshackle step of those who,
as it happens in life, have suffered an embolism and their
body gets partially paralysed.
With a huge smile and bright eyes, he greeted me
with a merhaba while he stopped by my side observing
my painting titled El Toro, where he was reflected on the
orange phosphorescence of the canvas. He did not stop
smiling and started asking me questions, that of course I
could not understand. He understood that I did not speak
Turkish and continued to smile, maintaining his balance
in a surprising way, as if he were holding on to invisible
strings in the air. He extended his left arm and with his
hand, squeezed my right shoulder. Surprised, I looked at
him and his eyes were flooded with tears while his huge
smile contradicted them.
I was touched.
It was the most sincere expression, besides the opinion
of the children, about my work. Stripped of ego, stripped
of vanity, stripped of indifference, with that squeeze on
my shoulder he told me everything. The sincerity of
the survivor, the strength of the warrior, the dignity of a
young Turkish man who, in spite of the atrocious accident
he had in his life, smiled and took the time to convey a
gesture of appreciation for the work of an unknown artist
in the street.
What an example for life!
What a squeeze to my soul!
Guillermo, "Mac", is a world traveller, usually aboard
his bike, La Mas. He's an artist, photographer and writer,
through his work wants to inspire as many as he can. See
what this world traveller is about -
https://www.facebook.com/MACWORKMAC/
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