The stranger from Texas
In Brazil there was a seven or ten-mile race. I was tired, exhausted, since I had run eight or nine miles that morning, so I didn't join.I saw a man with a dog near the start of the race and I said to him, "Excuse me, can you tell me how many miles they are going to run? I see there is going to be a race."
The man said, "I don't understand your English!" in a very abrupt way.
Immediately I saw that he was an American. I asked, "Where do you come from?"
He answered, "I come from Texas. Where do you come from?"
I said, "I come from New York."
He said, "Now I understand your English. Ask me again."
When I asked him, he said, "I am also a stranger, like you."
Sri Chinmoy, Salutations, numbers 5-8, Agni Press, 1981
