Leseprobe

A look in your eyes

For Bobby

Stories come true as soon as we believe in them.

When people lost their smiles

It was at that time that the Incas people lived in the land of the condor and the speaking mountains. The wealth of the Incas was gold, also called the pearls of the sun. Sun god Inti had given it to his people in distant Peru. Not to buy something or to argue or to kill for it. No, the beauty of man should be reflected in its shine. His wisdom, his ability for compassion and love and above all his smile. That beautiful smile was even more valuable than gold. It was the smile that Inti gave to his sons and daughters. Not to rule over his people on earth, but to make them better people.

But what glitters doesn't remain hidden. So one day the customers reached greed through the legendary gold country “Biru”, which was already suffering from a destructive disease at that time. Once it has grasped man, it is lost forever.

It was the Spaniards who finally found “Biru” after a long search. Perhaps also because Inti was not happy with how his sons administered his empire. The Incas had not become better people, they felt like the better people and made other peoples their subjects. The people of Intis - the father of the sun, the source of light and warmth, the protector of men - had become haughty. Nevertheless, the Spaniards received it with gifts and of course with a smile. But the Spaniards stole their gold and brought them diseases that killed. The worst thing was that the Incan people lost their smiles.

You, Bobby, who can smile like no other, you, who can reach every heart with your smile, know what that means - a life without a smile. It's a lonely life. A meaningless life, a sad life and - above all - a life without love.

So came the day when Inti forgave his sons and sent grace to the Incan people. He gave them something that was much more valuable than gold. He gave them back their smile. He gave them the alpaca. A creature of God and the eternal smile: A look into his eyes, it is said, and one is lost to it forever.

And now it is we who have lost our smiles because we are shaken by greed and think only of ourselves and no longer of the others. Because time is something we keep running after, even though we are never able to catch up with it. Because life is no longer a gift for us, but has become a matter of course.

But we are lucky because the alpaca has made the long journey from South America to Europe. To heal us with the smile it gives us every day and also to remind us who we may not be but who we can be. At the Archehof and wherever we encounter the alpaca.

In an everlasting smile.

Your Maria Popp, your wife Bank and especially your Mary Poppins