Goodbye to the island

When Kungfu student Caine joins the temple, his teacher, Master Kan, challenges him.

“Quickly as you can, snatch the pebble from my hand” he says, as he holds a little stone on his open palm.

Young Caine tries to do so and fails. He has much to learn still.

Master Kan reassures him, “When you can take the pebble from my hand, it will be time for you to leave."

Just a year ago I thought I was ready to leave, when my teacher appeared. Then I knew I needed the challenge, which was going to prove braving. It is possible that now, at an emotional level, I may have reached the mastery of a Shaolin priest.

In the last hours, as I gave my farewell to the quaint little roads of Phuket Town and saw for the last time the simple people who sold me fruit and sweets, who carefully washed my laundry, who trusted me with a motorcycle when I did not know how to drive, or who just filled the landscape contently doing their chores, I felt purna*.

It is easy to just leave, to escape, to turn your back to the past. However, it takes courage to take in the lesson and grab the stone from your master. It takes something to leave in peace, accomplished, and touched.

It took something stepping out of the house of El Mago, where so many tricks changed my heart, and riding down the holy road that I would not ride again. It took something hugging my dearest friend, my savior, Fede, and saying goodbye to his sweet eyes forever.

The times in the island were difficult and sometimes, too painful; and yet a part of me is attached to it and feels sad to part. It is the perfect situation.

It is time for me to leave.

*Sanskrit for “complete”.