Concord's Thinking Man

"At first I seem delirious, but once explained, I'm nothing serious."

This Into the Woods quote floated in my head as we were approached by an older gentleman wearing a bright yellow vest with the words Thinking Man on them. I knew we were in for a long conversation that would either be annoying or life altering, but would definitely leave us with a story.

Last year John was interviewed by the local NPR station, WGBH. Reading his transcript sounds exactly like what he told Don and I as we walked from our car, across the North Bridge, on our way to the Concord Historical site. We were pressed for time, but John is very persuasive and he encouraged us to pause and listen to him. As we parted Don asked if we could take his picture, which he readily agreed to.

A decade ago John's cardiologist diagnosed him with congenital heart failure and told him to step away from screens and get out and walk. I feel a smidge of guilt typing this on my screen when I should be following his advice and going out for a walk on this rainy day.

John, a retired Harvard history professor and finance guy by trade, started walking around Minute Man National Park. He decided to start saying "Hi" to strangers. He has a knack for languages and decided to sing their national anthem to international visitors. Sometimes this meant learning their songs. He has a  repertoire of 46 songs from around the world. He sings in the park because his family does not like his singing voice.

He was nervous when he reached out to his first person, a woman from France. After breaking out into La Marseilles, he was afraid she would think he was crazy and he would be banned from the park. Instead, she told him he made her day. He repeated this with the next person, a woman from Mexico. When he meets someone from a country where he does not have a song at the ready he asks them for their favorite song.

"What a dopamine rush!" He says enthusiastically lifting his arms in a cheer as he describes the feeling he gets when people are moved when they hear their song. Each positive experience encourages him to meet more people. The negative ones sadden him, but he continues. I'm glad we stayed and talked, even though my instinct was to press on.

Upon meeting us he asked where we are from. When we said New Jersey he listed positive things about our state, leading with Albert Einstein lived there. 

Reading his story it says he launched a short-lived presidential campaign in 2024. I wish he had won. His positivity is infectious. 

We ended with his eight-word mantra:

Inhale with gratitude.

Exhale with kindness.

Repeat.

I was to mull this over and get back to him in three days letting him know if I agreed with him or had a better one. It has been more than three days, but I am still mulling.

He asked us for our best advice. A tough thing to come up with on the spot.

Mine was: always bring a book; always keep moving.

Don's was: invest early

He rises early each day to write before he embarks on his walks. I am not following his blog.