For Klaus
Today I did visit my friend Klaus. I met Klaus the first time about seven years ago when I went with friends to a party in Brooklyn. On the way back him and I ended up in the same subway car realizing that we just saw each other at the party and started to talk. Klaus is half German half Greek what combines German consistency and a Greek love for life. He is very funny. He always makes people laugh and you just have to like him. He is also really good with the guitar and had his own band in Germany before he moved to New York to work for a publishing company. Klaus introduced me to Wing Tsun kung fu. I called him about three years ago when I almost got into a bar fight and realized that yoga would not do the job trying to defend myself. At that point he had been training for a few years and was already quite good at it. He told me how much kung fu has helped him to overcome his fears. It did the same for me and I am forever thankful that he introduced me to it. He also told me during the conversation we had that Wing Tsun is not very physical. That is not really true and every time we train very hard in class I tell my sifu (kung fu father/teacher), “but Klaus said it’s not physical !!!” We also used to call him “Grandmaster Klaus” because we all knew and know that he has a Wing Tsun grandmaster inside of him.
Last time I saw Klaus was in October when he had a big 38th birthday party as every year in the basement of his favorite restaurant. And as all the years before he would play his guitar, sing and project images of all the amazing trips he made in the 12 months before. Klaus is very active always on the go and he loves riding his motorcycle. About 8 months ago the last time just the two of us spent time together he told me that he wanted to stop doing kung fu what he shortly after did. He said, ” Carsten, the only thing I still enjoy in life is riding my bike.”
Today I did visit my friend Klaus at the ICU unit at Bellevue Hospital. I have been talking about the illusion a lot, about life being a projection of the mind. Today the illusion felt very real. It is so much easier to talk about things being unreal, things being a projection if I am in nature or even in the comfort of my room. In the ICU unit suffering is so direct, so into your face, so real.
Klaus was out this Sunday doing what he loves to do most, riding his bike. He was on one of the highways close to the city and something went wrong, terribly wrong. Nobody could tell me what exactly happened but Klaus has a broken arm, a broken pelvis, head injuries and is in a coma. When he got to the hospital on Sunday things were bad, really bad. Now he is in stable condition.
This post if for you my friend, I hope you will make it!
"Hope". Williamsburg/Brooklyn 02-06-08 at 11:36 PM.
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