The late Billy Joe Moffat, who I had the honour of meeting just before his death, had an incredible impact on me. A retired NYC trader, he found his peace in the wilds of Colorado.
“If I could come back to the planet and be anything I wanted to be Would I be a peak in the Andes
Or an island in the Arabian Sea
Sand on the wind-swept Sahara
A glacier on a polar dome
A bird that could soar to the top of the land What would I pick for my home?
The coastline of Northern California
The loft of the Bolivian Plateau
I say with a grin, ‘I’ll come back as the wind And to all of these places I’d go.’
The majestic Canadian Rockies
Or a plant in the forest of Brazil
A whale who could cruise all the oceans of the world Would I move, or simply be still?
A boy on the streets of Kolkata
A building in a city like Rome
A tulip in the great fields of Holland, perhaps
Or be a king and sit on a throne
The choices are really quite endless
And if I could be anything I wanted to be
I’d like to come back and give it just one more crack And try to be a much better me.
That, in all seriousness, answers all the questions of my gratitude to the Creator for the charmed life I’ve been able to live. And if I had to do it all over again, the concentration would be: what more could I give than I did?
I’ve been given plenty, certainly [had] an internal debate with myself as to whether I deserved such a charmed life.
I accept it and do so with gratitude but the focus would be on: how could I be kinder, more helpful, less judgemental? How could I put aside all the things that, had I known then what I know now, I would have done differently?
That would be how I’d like to spend my next incarnation, should I be fortunate enough to get one. Is that all you have to give? Reach in a bag and see if there’s any more.
That would be a very, very pleasant way to spend the next go- around: giving. Giving more. Being better. Thinking clearer. Being an example, not only for others to enjoy their lives and do so in a manner that is consistent with integrity and justice, but do so from the origin of joy itself.”