[Yes, these are real people I have had the great pleasure to meet on my journey thru life..., obviously, names and sometimes places have been changed to protect, well, not so much them, but, us, [nervous lol], if you know what I mean...]

Sam: Big, burly, black-as-the-night American..., motor mechanic by trade... and a member of Alcoholics Anonymous..., humble tradesman he may have been but, he had a razor-sharp intelligence, could have been a professor had he the opportunity...
I stayed with Sam for a couple of months on one of my travels, he enjoyed my cooking, yes, I’m a great cook, and I enjoyed ‘shooting-the-breeze’ with him. Sam always had an enlivening twinkle in his good eye, that I secretly envied. He seemed to exude this mantra: “Breath in, breathe out, life is good.” I often wondered what it was that lit his internal fire so beautifully and so intensely. Sam was always at peace, nothing seemed to ruffle his feathers. Student of the human mind that I am, I determined to find out what his secret was. I probed and I delved, but, to no avail, his armour seemed to be disarmingly full-proof. Sam and I were having a coffee at Starbucks in Texas, late one Friday evening. And, ‘philosophers’ that we were, we were chatting away about solving all the world’s problems. That night, I decided to let my armour down and tell him a thing or two about myself. He listened intently, wisely nodding his head, every now and then, but still nothing! Suddenly, in frustration, I blurted out: “Sam, help me…, what is your secret to the love, joy and peace that you so obviously enjoy? Is it a secret love, a special woman you have ‘back at the ranch’ that we don’t know about?” Sam was very mysterious, you see, none of us knew all of his goings and his comings. Suddenly, Sam got an amused smile on his pitch-black, dark face. Yes, we were unlikely companions, me, an academic European from racist South Africa, and Sam a Black American, blind in the one eye, he wears a patch over it, like a pirate... “Tell me,” Sam said, “Do you think that a woman or any man or money or any other situation can bring you the love, the joy and peace you’re soooo desperately seeking?” I kept quiet, I intuitively knew it was Sam’s turn to teach me that night. “Right now”, he said, “I bring my joy to you as my friend, I bring my love, my peace, likewise I do that with any woman I may be with or in any situation I find myself in. That is the only thing I can do, bring what I have inside me to the table. I would never presume or foolishly seek to find my love, my joy, my peace in another human being or any kind of external situation, if it’s not inside me, it’s not there!”
Wow! His words took my breath away. His words slid deep inside me, and ever since I have tried my best to follow in my friend, Sam’s footsteps. It's not easy, let me tell you...
It’s been an honor to have known you Sam...