Siddhartha Comes to America

It was a sunny summer day when I got a letter in the mail written by somebody from India. Thinking it was junk mail, I still decided to open and read it. When I read the first couple of sentences, I was very confused and shocked. The letter read, “My name is Siddhartha. I have been wandering the woods of India for 3 months now trying to follow the ways of the Buddha. I was unhappy with my journey and would like a new place to travel and explore. I will be arriving in New York City tomorrow at 12 o’clock noon. I cannot wait to meet you. From, Siddhartha.”

Not knowing what to do or to expect, I called my friend Adam to ask him for some words of advice. I read him the letter and he told me what he would do. He said to meet him in the city and talk to him. “If he seems harmless, you should let him stay. We could both take him places and show him a new way of life.” said Adam. For some reason he seemed very excited to meet Siddhartha.

It is now the next day and I was on my way to go pick up Adam so he could come with me. We got to the boating dock at about 11:50. Nobody was there yet. At exactly 12 o’clock we could see the boat coming up to the dock. When the people started getting off the boat, Adam and I both thought, “How do we know which one he is?” We started to get worried that we were going to miss him or he would get lost. Just as we started looking around, a young man of about 18 years of age came up and said, “Hello, I am Siddhartha.” Not knowing what to do or say, Adam stepped in, introduced himself, and asked him if he could take his bags. The three of us then started walking back to my car.