Editor's Note: Check out part one of Jason's series at THIS LINK!
Road-weariness and anxiety are really starting to put the boots to me. Caffeine has abandoned its perch on the apron. I feel like maybe the match for my peace of mind is lost, when suddenly an unexpected tag partner appears, ever-patiently waiting for the tag…
Roughly 8,395 miles away from his place of birth, roughly 2,500 years from the time of his death, an Indian prince turned wandering beggar has appeared before me in México’s Sonoran desert.
A statue of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, sits in meditation under the illuminating bodhi tree of a street lamp, outside of an OXXO gas station, on the outskirts of Hermosillo, Sonora, México.
Sweet Siddhartha, who suffered from depression so badly that he gave up royal luxury to live the poorest life imaginable and nearly starved himself to death in search of the of the answer to the question, “Why does life have to suck, and how do we make it not?” Who eventually decided to sit his ass down and not get up until the answer presented itself. Who received the answers and shared them with others. Whose teachings survived thousands of years, spread across the World, and saved the young life of an offbeat professional wrestler. Here he was, again. Right when I needed him, again. He made the tag and cleared the ring.
Reinvigorated, I was back on the sudden lane-shifting, rough desert highway. Driving through a country where I don’t speak the language, for the first time, without a desire or aversion in the World. Not knowing the speed limit, and being cool with that. Getting tailgated by semi-trailer trucks, and not giving a good Gautama damn. Barely being able to keep my eyes open, but blasting Sturgill Simpson’s Metamodern Sounds In Country Music, and appreciating life like I had never appreciated it before as ol’ Sturgill and I sang in unison, “Met Buddha yet another time and he showed me a glowing light within”.
And this is just the first 48 hours of my cross-continent trip to wrestle in the streets of México for 42 dollars and 26 cents.
(Photo courtesy of River Horse Photography, permission by owner/operator Alan Rolette)
