Feel In The Blanks Poem by Curtis Johnson

Feel In The Blanks
By Curtis Johnson

Mr. Cee lived in Northern California, and was checking on the latest weather conditions building up on the East Coast where a strong hurricane was already in route. More than two thousand miles away, young Mr. Dee, who lived in Eastern Pennsylvania, was also concerned about the East Coast storm; but he was also checking on the latest standings and scores of The World Series game in Kansas City between the Mets and the Royals.

Mr. Cee had relatives on the East Coast. So after watching the weather reports, he decided to call his sister in Brooklyn. He misdialed by a couple of numbers and reached young Mr. Dee by mistake. In spite of being strangers and their age difference, their conversation quickly turned toward the weather, sports, and the Republican Presidential Debates already being televised as they were speaking. Of course the three issues in play happened to be the favorite topics of men in general.

The two men soon moved on to more serious matters, and the young Mr. Dee began opening up to a stranger at the other end of a telephone line. The more the young man expressed his feelings and told his story, Mr. Cee saw himself in the young man. As the young Mr. Dee continued speaking, Mr. Cee saw some empty spaces like blanks being skipped, but he refused to interrupt and kept listening very intently.
The older gentleman sensed the need for the young man to talk and have someone to listen to him until he was ready for input. At the same time, Mr. Cee wondered how different his life might have been if someone had listened to his heart with love, compassion, and understanding.

Young Mr. Dee then paused and invited Mr. Cee to speak into his life. This was an easy task, because he had already walked that bumpy road, flew those unfriendly skies, and swam that muddy river. The blanks that he had noticed in the dialogue was part of the life that he had lived. It was as if the older man was watching a movie episode of his own life. He was pleasantly able to help the young gentleman chart a course that he had already sailed. He not only saw the blanks that the young man either ignored or denied, but he experienced and felt them as a young man.

Therefore, Mr. Cee was able to aptly fill in the blanks, because he could feel in the blanks. When the young man shared about the pain and deep struggles of his marriage and wanted ‘out’, Mr. Cee, who was in reality an older Mr. Dee, was able to feel the same pain and stir him in a different direction. He taught him that marriage not only needed love between two people in order to survive and thrive, but that the two of them also needed a three-fold covenant that included God.

Before they finished, Mr. Cee showed him several values necessary for success in life. Three of those values were: The value of being in control of his emotions. The value of a personal relationship with God. And the value of being bound and dedicated to the service of others. Mr. Cee was able to help Mr. Dee, because he was able ‘to f e e l” in the blanks of the young man’s life. And also because as an older man, those blanks had “already been filled” in his own life.
Cj10292015