I turned the corner and almost ran into him. We locked eyes.
“Worm art,” he mumbled with a smile and pointed to a fence with various paintings hanging on it.
I stared at his teeth. Then looked at the art. Then back at his teeth.
“Damn,” I replied. It was worm art. Or paintings of worms.
We had our personal mastermind this week in New Orleans. We were taking a break for lunch and wandering around the city when I stumbled upon an unusual man.
He had shoulder-length scraggly hair flowing out of a cheap top hat with the words Shit Show across the front. He wore a dirty hoodie and velcro shoes from Walmart. I know this because I have the same pair.
He was hanging his art on a chainlink fence as we came upon him. What first struck me was his smile. A warm, honest, kind smile.
Next were his teeth. Disaster. Broken and blackened. It pained me to see them. However, it didn’t prevent him from smiling ear to ear.
“I make art with worms,” he sheepishly pointed to his paintings. They were literally paintings of worms. That’s it. Just paintings of worms. Outstanding, I thought.
His pop-up art display was on the same street as art galleries selling cool, but no better than his, art for thousands of dollars.
We bought three of his. Five dollars each.
“Do you live here,” I asked wondering where such a fella might lay his head at night.
“Well, I live here half the year and run a circus the other half of the year,” he said.
Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better he tells us he runs a circus.
“It is the Cirque du Flame and we tour through Arkansas and Missouri.”
“Wow, “ I said.
I have met some kind people in my life but this guy was overwhelmingly kind. I have also met some interesting people and well, he was interesting.
“Yeah, I also throw a music festival once a year and always lose money on it,” he said while laughing. “I spend all the money I make at the circus on this music festival and it always loses money. Not very smart I guess.”
Maybe it is smart? Maybe this guy loves his life and money isn’t much of a concern. He was, by far, the happiest person we encountered in New Orleans besides the old ladies at the coffee shop near our Airbnb who giggled when they called me Tom.
“I also teach fire breathing and am the world’s greatest glass walker,” he mentioned casually.
“What the fuck?”
“I walk on broken glass, nails, and mouse traps,” he said while giving us another big toothless grin. Mouse traps!?!?
Now here we were, on the street in New Orleans, looking at worm art made by a guy who teaches fire breathing, runs a circus, and walks on mouse traps.
In the end, we bought three little pieces of art from him. Three happy worms. He left a huge impression on my heart and was a powerful reminder that kindness is my number one value.
As we head into 2023 we need to decide who we want to be. How we want to be. And, if we are going to smile more in 2023 than we did in 2022. Maybe we can be a little more like Phil…
See you at the circus this year, Phil. We will be there!
Trey