Baucis from Abja
Baucis and Philemon's myth tells us that the ones who have the least give the most. During our last training exercise with the army, I got first-hand proof of it. It was about 6 A.M on a Sunday. We were wandering around the forest, as reconnaissance does. At the given moment, we were looking for a "hide" – a hidden place to put our camp up and possibly hide our cars.
Over a field, we noticed someone already putting in the work on a farm. We went to ask him for help since a local would know more about the surrounding area. This man was the owner of the farm, let's call him Peter.
Peter has worked in the closest village's ambulance for the past 20 years. During a certain period of time he simultaneously worked with firefighters, but when he turned 50 it became too much. A few years ago, his father became ill and he came and took over the farm with his wife. Peter was very open-minded towards such a huge military operation as the Spring Storm happening all around him.
When we asked him for directions he instead offered for us to park our cars in his private forest. The whole squad was pleasantly surprised about this reaction. It was a very convenient solution for us so we accepted. Moments later he offered to heat the sauna for us.
To make sense of the beauty of this situation I need to go on a slight tangent. When in the forest, hygiene is important, yet difficult to achieve. Usually, we try to go over the sensitive body parts once a day with baby wipes. As you can probably deduce – it is not quite enough. It helps but is less than optimal in the long run.
Anyway, Peter offered us a place to stay and then, on top of that, offered us to have running water to wash ourselves. At that moment, the other leaders and I realised that we had to give something in return. The only thing we had to offer was physical work. This made Peter even happier and during the 6 days we stayed there, we got to wash ourselves twice and he also cooked up an incredible hunter's meal for us.
I want to take something away from this experience. I want to be more on the giving end. It brings so much joy into this world. Just lend a hand and you might make a friend for life. We are going to go back to Peter's later during our service to bring him a personalised gift.
This Week's Suggestions:
If not familiar with this already I suggest, for culture, reading the Wikipedia summary of the myth.
🎶 "A Little Closer" by Diffrent:
I have been waiting for this song for the past 2 months, since MALUGI played it in his Boiler Room set, in Ghent. This song has just such good energy. It is truly vibrant in my opinion. Have a listen!
Have a Sunny Monday!