The Man Who Spoke and Asked for Nothing
I have met him three times this year.
Once in Morocco, once in Ireland, and now again in Malaysia.
Different faces. Different languages. Different climates.
But the same man.
He speaks.
And then he leaves.
And he asks for nothing.
In Morocco he came to me without ceremony. No smile meant to sell. No story rehearsed for tourists. He said a few sentences—about the place, about the way things used to be—and then he was gone. No request. No lingering. No expectation that I would remember him.
But I did.
At the time, I didn’t understand why. I only knew that something in me had gone quiet afterwards, the way the sea does after a boat passes.
Ireland was different.
Ireland is my old world, not my exotic one. The fields are familiar. The air carries memory. When the man appeared there, it surprised me more. He spoke as if I already belonged, even though I felt between lives at the time. He said something ordinary—almost nothing at all—but it landed with weight.
He did not ask who I was.
He did not ask what I did.
He did not offer advice.
He simply acknowledged my presence, and then walked on.
That, too, stayed with me.
Malaysia was the third time.
By then I was no longer searching. I was moving slowly. Watching. Letting days be days. And that is when he appeared again. A few words. Calm eyes. No curiosity about my plans. No attempt to extract anything—money, story, validation.
He spoke because speaking was right.
And then he left because staying was unnecessary.
These men do not exist in the modern West, or if they do, they are buried beneath noise.
In the West, conversation is a transaction. Men speak to gain ground, establish position, sell something, or defend themselves. Silence is suspicious. Time is monetised. Presence is rare.
But in certain places—what I can only call intact cultures—there are still men who have nothing to prove.
They are not mentors.
They are not guides.
They are not mystical sages.
They are witnesses.
They appear when a man is alone but not lonely. When he is not extracting from the world. When he is walking without performance. They do not come to everyone. They cannot be summoned. They cannot be chased.
And if you try to turn them into a story too quickly, they disappear.
Odysseus met many men on his journey. Kings who demanded allegiance. Hosts who offered shelter at a price. Monsters who tested his strength. But there were also quiet figures along the way—men who pointed once, spoke briefly, and asked nothing in return.
Those were the moments that told him he was still on the right path.
Not home yet.
But not lost.
I don’t tell everyone about these encounters. I didn’t tell my inner circle this time. Some things lose their truth when spoken aloud too often. What is given freely should be carried quietly.
I don’t believe this is destiny.
I don’t believe it makes me special.
I believe it means something simpler, and harder to earn:
For brief moments this year, in Morocco, in Ireland, and now in Malaysia, I was walking correctly.
And that is enough.
I keep going.