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One day, I was riding on the back of my friend’s motorbike, weaving through the tall green mountains in the south of Thailand.  Unexpectedly, the bike sputtered, slowed, and stopped.  We had run out of gas.  Looking around, there wasn’t a gas station in sight, so my friend pushed the bike down the road as I walked behind him.  The limestone mountains are full of magic, but this day, we were in for a special surprise.

There was a small man living inside the mountain.  He called out to us from the cave and motioned for us to come inside.  I was hesitant at first, having no experience with cave dwellers, the scene was a bit foreboding and comedic at the same time.  This man was dressed only in a sarong, tied tightly around him, and there was smoke coming from the fire inside his cave.  He smiled a toothless grin and happily waved us inside.

The smirk of travel surprise was glued to my face in a kind of “Oh, shit… what is going to happen to me now” sort of way.  I’m walking into the cave, thoroughly amused.  This is the whole reason why I travel.  Our new friend speaks only Thai, and a couple words of English, but manages to pantomime quite well.  He motions for us to sit.  We are trying to explain that we are out of gas, and he just stands, nodding enthusiastically and points to a small table-like area to sit down.  We do as we are told.

I watch as the small old man makes his way over to a kettle, fills it with water, and puts it directly onto the fire.  He smiles and nods.  I secretly love him, and I have no idea who he is. He must be somewhere between 80 and a 200 years old.  He is not even five feet tall, bent over and ambling around the cave barefoot, doing his very best to ensure our comfort.

He sits with us and gives us coffee.  He rolls cigarettes in dried palm leaves and we sit smiling, drinking coffee, and smoking cigarettes.  I am giddy.  Eventually, he sticks out his hand and introduces himself as “Doctor”, which I find funny considering he is nearly naked, mostly toothless, and smoking cigarettes…. but I fully believe him. We tell him our names and sit smiling some more.  I ask him, “You live here?” and point around.  He nods enthusiastically and tells us his wife lives in another town.  Most of the communication is a lot of pointing and waving of the arms.  I’m wishing I had my camera and trying to absorb every detail of the situation because it seems so paranormal.

Next, the doctor, or medicine man, breaks out a bunch of astrological charts and begins to read my palm.  He reads my friend’s, as well, and declares that we are both “Dee Mak Mak”, which in English means “Very, very good”.  I’m happy to hear this because I don’t know what I would do if he said mine was bad.  He goes through the charts and asks us our birthday.  We are a bit confused as to if he wants the date, or the year, but quickly, he is at work , using a giant magnifying glass to see (he doesn’t have glasses).  He moves around ancient looking papers with strange markings and weird pictures.  He cross-references his books, he is deep in thought and research.  I am so wishing I spoke fluent Thai so I could figure out what he knows, because I’m figuring if anyone knows anything, it’s going to be him. We start drinking beer.  After the research is done, he concludes that we are both good, and good things will happen.  Again, I’m relieved.  He is trying to tell me more and motioning dramatically but speaking only in Thai.  The meaning is lost in translation, but I’m OK with not knowing.

I flip through a book of his that has the Chinese characters in it and pictures of animals.  We spend the next while pointing at photos of animals, saying them in Thai and English and imitating the noises and movements they make .  “Chicken, GAI, LUCKLUCKLUCK” and then we act like the animal and fall over laughing like we are five.  It is fantastic.

It is starting to get dark and the cave is getting darker.  We motion towards the motorbike and show him that we are out of gas.  He scurries around his cave gathering supplies in a caveman fashion and then pulls his motorbike up to ours.  He siphons ALL of HIS GAS BY HIS MOUTH into our gas tank.  Somehow, even with a mouthful of diesel, this man is still willing and able to smile at me.  I have tears creeping into my eyes.  I don’t even have a friend or family member I know that would be willing to do such a caring act.  I give him a piece of candy to take away the taste.  He is so excited that he does a little hop.

So now, we are set, have our fortunes read, animals memorized, and gas in the tank.  We try to give him money which he absolutely refuses.  We try to give him beer.  He refuses this too.  He is shaking his hands, and waving them around.

“Mai Chai, Mai Chai.  Choke Dee.  Choke Dee.”

Which I understand.  He is telling us No, No, it is good luck.  Good luck.  I remember that here, in Thailand, the Buddhist teachings are such that if you come across someone in need, you help them for nothing in return.  To be of service when someone is in need is good luck, because it means that when you need help, it will be there for you, too. We hugged him and went on our way, speechless from the whole experience.  I have yet to experience any act of giving that was so completely kind and generous from someone that expected absolutely nothing in return.  Here is a man that has nothing, and is giving us everything he has, happily.  I was completely blown away.

The strange part about this story is that I pass this cave on a regular basis.  I have never seen this man since the experience. The cave that had all of his belongings, the fire, and the tables is empty.  It is completely vacant, and devoid of any traces of him with the exception of some black on the ceiling, marking the memory of fire.  I have no idea where my small toothless medicine man has gone, but I will forever remember the experience of giving unconditionally.

My point of sharing this story with you is to get you to think about how you give.  I have never experienced giving like I have here.

Can you give without expecting something in return?

Are you able to give unconditionally?

Have you experienced unconditional giving?

Where can you give more in your life?