Some "humastes" from vacation

"Humaste" is a word that, AFAIK, I invented two years ago while on vacation, at least in the form I use it. It's the secular humanist version of "namaste" and a direct riff on it: I recognize and salute the human in you because of the human. in me.

As a secularist, I don't agree with the idea of namaste in general and also see Gandhi's use of it along with "harijan" to be condescending or patronizing to Dalits, untouchables, "scheduled" castes, outcastes, etc.

That can include recognizing the ugly, or even in a degree, the bad, in others, along with the good, the true and the beautiful, because that's all par of being human.

I don't believe that these salutes will increase any non-existent karma in any way. I just want to offer them.

So, first, humaste to the "it girl" of a couple of weeks ago.

Second, humaste to the mom of the apparent special needs kid (he looked about 18, and not sure whether his needs were more physical or mental) on the beach at Crescent City, California.

Third, humaste to the apparent homeless in Eureka, California, bundled up against a Scotland-like summer night.

Fourth and related, humaste to the people gathering driftwood sticks to either sell to others or to use themselves for driftwood art in Crescent City, as you scrabble forward through semi-subsistence level living.

Why did you ask ME that?

A couple of weeks ago, while on vacation, I was hiking the Grove of Titans trail at Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park. I was coming back to the trailhead, when a young lady, I'm guessing early 20s, perhaps late teens, asked me, "Isn't this the most beautiful spot in the world?" or something very similar.

It was quite a nice spot. And, since the various state parks in the Redwood State and National were created before the national park, they arguably have the best lands within the system.

That said, per the old Latin phrase, de gustibus non disputandum, this is to some degree a subjective question. I indicated that, and noted I had been at a few other places that could be in the running. (She was from Los Angeles and might not have been to many such places.)

But, that's a secondary issue.

Why did you, a young attractive lady (and she was, indeed) ask ME that, instead of somebody else?

There was no flirtation involved on her part. And, physically, yes, she was attractive, but, and don't take this sexist-ly, but it wasn't in a "foxy" sense. It was in a fit, slim, attractive, healthy, well-scrubbed sense.

After I got back to the trailhead and hopped in my rental, some part of me thought, and kind of wished I had said to her, in a non-horny sense, something to the effect of "If I were a lot younger, I would feel [have said] 'wherever you are is the most beautiful spot.'"

I then thought about the idea of serendipity, which is part of why I'm journaling here right now.

In short, this reinforced that I reject the idea of serendipity, at least in the quasi-metaphysical to fully metaphysical way that most people mean it. Just like I reject that idea of "luck."

In fact, the two are tied together, on a non-metaphysical definition of luck.

Serendipity is just some people being luckier than others after a chance event that takes on ex post facto meaning due to that later luck.

It would be nice if this meeting had been serendipitous. I'm not holding my breath.