I was in the fitness center when I overheard a group of senior members in their late seventies talking about Jim. They expressed concern about not seeing Jim lately. This conversation made me reflect on my own encounters with Jim. I met him a week after joining the fitness center. Despite being in his late seventies, he looked and acted like he was in his mid-sixties. Jim was a Western European native and was still grieving the loss of the love of his life. Despite the difference in our ages, we found common ground in our conversations in the whirlpool. As my daily visits to the fitness center became less frequent, I stopped seeing Jim as often.
“There are no good or bad things. Your thinking makes it so.”
— Shakespeare
Although Jim and I had a significant difference in age, we discovered common ground during our short conversations in the whirlpool. We bonded over shared experiences, including financial struggles in our home countries during our youth, the challenges of working as non-natives in the US, and raising US-born children. Jim’s children now lived far away, with one on the west coast and two in New York state.
I felt guilty about not noticing Jim’s unusual absence for so long, despite spending time with him regularly. I questioned why I never asked for Jim’s phone number during our conversations. I reflected on how the concern for privacy and the threat of identity theft has made people more cautious about asking for and sharing personal information, including phone numbers. This change in behavior is likely why I didn’t ask for Jim’s phone number during my conversations.
Finally, before going to bed, I was thinking about the kind of life we are forced ourselves to live these days. In the interest of our own privacy and to guard against identity thefts, we think twice before we reveal our phone numbers, address, and even for that matter our birthdays. It has become second nature to us not to reveal these details.
The thought of Jim’s absence made me reminisce about a scene from an old movie, where a group of seniors gathered every evening near a temple to wait for friends of their age group. If one of them was late, the others would worry and express concern.
I hope to meet Jim again. Otherwise, I will leave it the way it is with the hope that I will meet him one day.