How a woman sees a gentleman...

Sometimes it is easy to spot him because his presence is all over that room and other times it is so hard because he doesn't want to be seen. He knows how to make his presence felt without disturbing and how to leave without being discovered. But how a woman actually sees a gentleman?

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” - Augustine of Hippo

There comes a time in our lives when we want to catch a plane and just leave. It doesn't matter where, just to a new destination, with new people. We want to discover places, faces, food, sightseeings, traditions and for a moment to feel like we are part of this. Yes, in a few words we want to travel. But why this desire? I hadn't known this until I was told some stories.
I was on a plane with some friends, on my way to London. We hadn't left the country by then, so we were so excited. I had the chance to sit beside a man who had traveled a lot before.
- The first time?
- What? I asked a little bit surprised.
- When you leave the country.
- Is it that obvious?
- Not really...I mean yeah, a little bit. You seem so nervous.
- Well, the first time when I am on a plane.
- Oh, I remember that. Kind of scary, but you get used to it.
My friends were somewhere in the back, so it was god to find someone to have a conversation with. We started to talk about traveling and all that stuff and I was so surprised about what he said.
- So, you've been to all those places?
- Yeah, I will never forget the sunrise in Malta, the sunset in Peru, the atmosphere in India, the food in China, the people in Canada, the lights in New York, the weather in London...
- Oh my God, but you've seen almost the whole world.
- Well, not really. There are still a lot of places. This world has too many beautiful places. I just hope to see as much as I can.
- This is unbelievable. I have been to a few in my country and now to London. But I don't think I could do something like that.
- Why not?
- Well...it is just...it depends on a lot of things: money, time...
- Oh yeah, these two. They always drag you down. I
won't say it is easy, you need a lot of things, but why not to travel? I mean you learn, go to college, then get a job, have a family and go to that job everyday, why not to go somewhere else from time to time? If you try, you can save some money and every year to try something new. Don't be afraid to want to discover. There's nothing like learning from experience.
It felt so great to listen to a man like that. It made me want to change my opinion about life and how every experience is a new beginning. In that moment I just wanted to go to my friends and tell them how this trip together is gonna be the first of so many others.
- But first of all, you have to know which is your dream city. Where do you want the most to go.
That was simple.I know that maybe it was a cliche, but it was all I ever dreamt about.
-Los Angeles.
-Oh, the city of angels. That is a good choice and an amazing city.
- You've been there?
- Yes and I will never forget that city. The beach, the air, the mixture between people, the nights, the american dream and the angels...oh the agitated angels. Only God knows what is hidden in their drunk hearts: passion, lust, dreams, love, hate, I can't tell. I can say that once you get there, you feel like you missed that place forever.
So, you will do what you want, but I just have to give an advice: Discover what is like to be a part of something different. Try new things. Learn from experience. Give yourself a break once in a while. Leave behind the technology and welcome the nature. Respect the others' traditions and lifestyle and so they will respect yours. Make friends everywhere, you don't know when you will come back there. And most important travel as much as you can, as long as you are young and share those things with the ones you love. There's nothing greater than that.
- I have to say that nothing had such an impact on me than these words.
- I know. I knew from the moment I saw how nervous you were. See, that passed.
He was right. Now I was more peaceful than ever. And I was ready to have the best adventures in life because you know what it is said: Why not traveling the world!

Part III: When you get lost you can always be found

 It was a little shop with different handmade and art objects. When I entered I asked myself how that place contained all that stuff. The seller was talking with another customer so I started looking around. There were a lot of painted plates and glasses, some paintings and bracelets and earrings and other jewelries. But what drew my attention were some objects made of glass. Black, red, blue, those were ones of the most beautiful glass sculptures I had ever seen.
- They were made by a local artist. I turned around. The other customer had left. And also the paintings. It is such a shame that we don't have an art gallery here. You know, just for people to watch, to discover what this is all about. We promote too much the people outside our country and we forget our real artists, the ones that see the beauty in this place we call home.What you think?
I didn't know why but I was fascinated by her words. It is like I was supposed to meet those people in that night.
- I agree. I mean, nowadays, we just want our kids to learn more and more. And we don't offer them other possibilities. It's like we don't want to poison them. She looked at me and smiled.
- You know, I see a lot of people passing by my door and
just some enter my shop. And from those just a few really understand. I started to realise from the moment they say the first words from which side of the country they are and what kind of people they are. Although we speak the same language, if you meet someone from another region you will how different we are.
- Yeah, that's so true.
- But to go back where I started, it is so bad that we don't encourage our kids to be more creative. You see, my father was a priest and he taught me some of the most important lessons. From him I enherited the talent of singing and from my mother the one of painting. I discovered the real values and I want to share them to those who want to listen.
You know, I love painting, I love art. It is my life and for a long time it was my job, but in life we have to make decisions. We have to choose between things that make our life, things that we love. And from those we have to choose the one we love more. In my case I chose family and I will never regret it. If I chose differently, I wouldn't have my daughter now and my husband who still encourages me to try to make a career through painting.
- But why don't you try, then?
- I just don't want to. We can't have everything in life. It is one path or another. Yes, you can try to have both, but for me it would be exhausting. I am too old for this. I have already made my choice and that's the way it is supposed to be.
I saw tears in her eyes and I knew that she was saying the truth. She was happy with her life the way it was. I was also about to cry, but I tried not to and I changed the subject.
- I am sorry for...I would like to buy this little box for jewelries.
- Yes, of course. Just let me to pack it for you. While she was doing that she said another thing. Don'tbe afraid to take chances! Life has something for all of us and if it is meant to be...well then, just live that life wisely. She gave me the box and looked me in the eyes. And don't forget to encourage your kids to embrace art! At least as a hobby!
- I won't! Thank you! I gave her the money and I left. It was such a beautiful night outside. The sky, the stars, the wind, the noise, the people...the music, oh the music. I could feel everything. It was amazing, so real, so simple. It was the way it is supposed to be. I found a bench and I sat there to contemplate that world. I wanted to see the box again so I ripped the paper, but when I opened the box, inside of it, I found a bookmark which had written on it:
"LOVE.DREAM.LIVE.FEEL.READ.WRITE.ACT.SING.DANCE.LISTEN. and do this MORE"
I went happy home. As I woke up the next morning, I knew which was my decision and what I had to do. I took a walk to the same shop but when I got there I couldn't find it. I thought it was the wrong location but then I searched every street, I asked people about it, but no one knew what I was talking about. I was so confused I thought it was a dream, but then I found the bookmark in my pocket and I knew it.
It was real, but only the ones who are lost could see it. And I was no longer lost...

Part II: When my thoughts escaped me...

But no matter how much I wanted, I couldn't be a part of that picture. Those questions were still in my head and I didn't know what to do. What to choose. I could see that the world was going further no matter what I was doing. But I was afraid that someone would see how I felt, how lost I was. One single wrong word and I would have been torn into pieces. It was just me and a decision. But I knew that the strong ones come to surface in the moments of loneliness.
Suddenly I heard a guitar. As I was going further, I could hear it better. Down, on the street, a young man was singing. He had some coins and a bancnote in his hat. Seeing his clothes, old and dirty, you could realise that he lived on the streets, but the way he was singing it was sublime. The way his fingers were moving on the chords, how every sound was like a leaf which falls in the autumn and along with the others creates the perfect picture, the way he was living the melody, he was losing himself like he was on the biggest stage in this world and everybody was watching him. Maybe some people didn't understand, but he knew what meant to have such an amazing passion. Sometimes it looks impossible to accomplish and you give up and you hate that you wanted it and you hurted yourself, but then you realise that without that thing you can't actually live. And that I could see in that young man.
I gave him all the money I had. He needed it more than me. And the, without thinking, I sat down in front of him. And I closed my eyes. I forgot about everything and I felt the music. I had never felt so free and full of life, of love. The melody was over. It was something classic. He looked at me.
- Can you sing a spanish one? I asked. I have never heard one live.
He sang it and it was one of the most beautiful songs I had ever heard. I let it to guide me. I wasn't there anymore. I was in the country of passion, of flamenco. I was walking on the bohemian streets of Barcelona, admiring the architecture, and dancing with the girls in red dresses. It was the prefect place to escape. I had the best experience but the melody was over at some point.
- Do you know that I have never felt something like this? I asked the young man.
- I know. And I realised that something important is gonna happen and you are nervous. In those situation people are always looking for an escape.
- How did you realise?
- I meet a lot of people everyday and although they may seem different, we are all the same in the end. I find easy to read people.
- I don't do this for money. I do it for the people, for those lost creatures that don't know where to go. They forgot how important it is to stop, just for a second, and see the small things, listen to the music, live. I do this for the beauty that lives inside of us but we forget about it. I do it for people like you.
Then was a moment a silence. I knew he was right.
- But why? Nobody understands you.
- You did it. For a lot of times our work won't be appreciated, our ideas understood, our love shared, but if this makes you happy, what others say it is not important. We have to listen to our heart, but also take our mind and we will find answers where we saw only questions.
- But sometimes it is not so easy to choose.
- It is never easy, but at least we have a choice. We don't have only one road, there are plenty. It depends what we really want.
I was thinking how wise that young man was. He managed to win through music, through art. I stood up, ready to leave.
- Thank you for your generosity and because you listened.
- I have to thank you because you taught me an important lesson.
I made a few steps, but he stopped me.
- And so you know that no matter what it is, in the end everything will be ok. And then he started singing again. I listened for a few moments and the I left. There was still plenty of time. Something in me changed. I didn't know what. I saw a little shop still opened and I decided to enter. And here I realised which was the change...

Part I: Where the questions are born...

Have you ever believed in miracles? Were you ever a dreamer?
Will you always remember what is like to be free? Or you will spend your whole life in a cage, waiting for someone to tell you that you have the key?
Will you ever surrender? Or you will fight for what you love the most?
Do you realise that sometimes things don't end up as we like? But the end is how it needs to be?
But what will you do? Will you try to remain at the same level and listen to the society or will you take your own path and make them remember you?
Would you like people to talk about you or remember you?
Is it so hard to try to do what you want and see if it actually works? I mean, why not?What can you lose? It is better to wonder your whole life what could have been or know what it is?
And why to make plans thinking about what your parents, friends or people, who don't even care about you, think?
Why not to become the person you want to be? Why not to be the person everybody remembers?
And if you want to do something, at what will you give up? What compromises are you able to make? Where is it your final point? What would you do to save the ones you love?
Would you live your life in lie or would you recognise your sins and be tortured for them?
Do you want to be different? Do you want to start a war or end it?
Can you imagine the death of a miracle but the birth of a dream?

This is the way my mind tortured me until...

You're losing your memory now...

- Please, let's go again to that place!
- But everytime we go there. Don't you want to see something else?
- Right now, no.
- But why?
- Maybe because it is the only thing I want to remember. I looked into his eyes. They were telling the truth. How could I refuse him that?
- Ok, then. Are you ready?
- I am always ready. He was exactly like a kid. Impatient.
It was a beautiful night, with such a clear sky when you have the sensation you can count all the stars. We went on that hill where we could see the whole city. It was the perfect view. The city lights brightened more powerful than ever.
- I love this place! I don't know why, it makes me feel like...
- Everything can come true.
It was true. I felt like nothing could stop us. We had the courage to move on and come to this city.
- Let's watch the stars! Here it is the perfect place. We laid on the ground and we looked at the sky.
- I wanna remember this moment forever.
- You will, I tried to say with the most optimistic voice.
- But you know that is not true.
- Don't! Just enjoy it!
Suddenly, out of nowhere it started to rain. A few drops at the beginning, but then all our clothes were wet. I started screaming.
- Let's get out of here!
- But why? It is so beautiful. He had that smile on his face that you couldn't resist.
- But...
- C'mon, it is fine. I haven't felt the rain for a long time. And I still like you with your hair all messed up.
He was right. It passed a pretty long time since he has been out.
- Would you dance with me? I took his hand and we started to dance through the music of rain. He was laughing. I was so happy to see him like that and a few tears felt on my face.
- Don't do this! I am here right now. We live for the moment, remember?
What could I say anymore. It wouldn't have changed anything.
- Just imagine that we are two little kids who have just met but they don't care. They want to play and nothing matters.
- I wish I were a kid again.
- We all want that. Too bad we forget that the kid is still inside us. We just have to let him be.
- But the kid can't hold difficult situations.
- Maybe, but the grown up can't hold all of them also.
We didn't say anything after that. We just sat there in the middle of the rain, waiting for a miracle which I didn't know if I believed in anymore.
After a time that I wanted to last forever, the rain stopped. I saw that my miracle didn't come and he came back to what became normal for us. He was looking confused around him.
- Where am I? And who are you? he started to become nervous.
- Calm down, dear! It's okay. I saw the insecurity in his eyes.
- What is going on? I didn't want to say those words, but they were true.
- Darling, you're losing your memory now...