The Temple

Copyright 2009 by Stefan Bolz

There is a Stewart's gas station in Rosendale on the corner of Route 32 and 213. I pass it almost every day on my way to work. One evening a few years back, I remember the sun was just setting, I came down Rte 32 and stopped at the traffic light right across from from the Stewart's building. Maybe it was the way the light of the evening sky illuminated it and made it appear slightly surreal but I suddenly had the very strong notion that the gas station wasn't a gas station at all. It was a temple. Not so much in the sense that people were going there to worship or pray like in a church. No. It was simply a place of holiness. I felt that the people who worked there and the people who got their gas and bought lottery tickets and their newspapers and hot dogs, each one radiated such holiness that it took my breath away. As I sat in my car, looking out the window and watching the comings and goings for a while, there was such love emanating from the building pouring outward and towards me. Everyone who went inside or came out the door was completely enveloped in this love. There was no sorrow. No frailty. No pain or grief. Only the utmost honor from everyone to everyone. As the traffic light turned green I stood there for a moment longer until somebody behind me honked their horn and I drove off. Since then, going to Stewart's to get a chocolate milk shake or a cup of coffee or a gallon of milk, has never been the same.