Photo of the Day – John Klingberg
I met John Klingberg in Salt Flat, Texas, while traveling across America with my mule Polly. He was hooked to an oxygen machine, smoking a cigarette, and invited me to join him for a ham biscuit. The oxygen hissed, and he said, "I know I shouldn't be eating this way, but these biscuits are just so good." It was just him and me in the little gas station with some turkeys behind it, and he struck me as one of the happiest people I'd met between Canada and Texas.
Two interesting things: first, people’s fundamental personalities are hard-wired into their systems, meaning it’s not really possible to fundamentally rework who or even how you are. This goes directly against the “You can be whatever/however you want” manifesto so prevalent in US. No you can’t. Second thing: the oxygen tube is stained _from the inside_ by nicotine. Maybe that’s the secret to happiness – nicotine!
Yeah, I love meeting characters like John in my travels. He took what pleasures he found in life and didn’t overanalyze how they fit into a higher form of himself. It is a real lesson in taking the day and ourselves for the way they are. Plus, he sold cactus jelly! More about that in a future Photo of the Day.