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The Value of Fleeting Moments
Life keeps some lessons warm until we are ready to internalize them
There are two kinds of people you can shake hands with.
Those who immediately ask, How are you? Or say, Nice to meet you!
And those who are smiling, nodding, and waiting to see what words finally leave your twitching lips, even if your embracing hands have already parted.
Nael, a German author who led a writing workshop I attended in 2021, is the latter. At least in the brief personal encounters I had with him.
“Isn’t it amazing that he’s been on national poetry slam stages?” I asked another participant at the beginning of our closing event. We were already seated on the theatre's thin, fabric-covered wooden benches, and Neal stood at the front and spoke the introductory words.
“Why?” He seemed to misunderstand me, wondering if I thought Nael wasn’t good enough to perform his texts on a stage. But it was quite the opposite.
One of his opening sentences, from a text more than five years ago, was still floating in my mind. It had been perfect. Even through the poor sound reproduction of the YouTube video I re-watched, I could hear the buzzing, anticipatory silence of the audience after his…
