Black Boots

He was so young. The entourage of passers-by walked near, looked, respected his space, and didn't bother him. He was asleep on the wire bench outside our Colorado hotel. Sometime between ‪12:00 midnight and ‪8:00 a.m., he had appeared there to rest.

His backpack was his pillow, and his cell phone lay on the ground, along with the military-style black boots.

Occasionally, I would walk past again on the way to the vehicle in preparation for the day's travel. The young traveler would change positions on the heavily wired bench, and sleep on. At some point, someone had left a gallon-sized zip-lock of food bars by his black boots.

A little later, I passed by and noticed his blondish hair, trimmed very close to his head, and the face of a young-twenty-something man. He seemed quite comfortable in his own skin. Again, he had changed positions, but slept on.

I wondered, "Was he military? Is he a hiker?" He was clean, in good sturdy clothes. He had an up-to-date cell phone and well-made backpack.

Somehow, he inspired me. I thought, "What freedom that young guy knows! He is able to travel limitlessly, experience adventure without bounds, gain knowledge of who he is, and figure out what he wants out of life! Maybe he will look back on this time and hold it as the most important, fact-finding days of his life."

I don't know where the young sleeper called home. I don't know if his parents worried about his whereabouts. I don't know where he went after sleeping outside our hotel. What I do know, is that without speaking a word, he and the black boots were gone upon our return from a day of our own trekking about Colorado.

Wherever the baby-faced young man sleeps tonight, on this July 4, I pray that he knows he inspired so many who walked past. I hope he is safe. May the black military-style boots take him to a place of great knowledge. Maybe he has discovered, most of all, that every day is an adventure! And in the oddest way, he represents the hope of future for us all.

Hicks Killingsworth -> -> ->

4 July 2016

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