I saw him coming from the last switchback on the trail that led to the backside of the mountain. As he got closer, I could see that he was dressed differently from the other hikers I’d seen. Rather than the high­tech fabrics and styles that had been the norm, this man was wearing traditional Egyptian clothing. He wore a tattered, rust­colored galabia and obviously old and thick­soled sandals that were covered in dust. What made his appearance so odd, though, was that the man didn’t even appear to be Egyptian! He was a small­framed Asian man, had very little hair, and was wearing round, wire­rimmed glasses.

　　As we neared one another, I was the first to speak. “Hello，” I said, stopping on the trail for a moment to catch my breath. Not

　　a sound came from the man as he walked closer. I thought that maybe he hadn’t heard me or the wind had carded my voice away from him in another direction. Suddenly he stopped directly in front of me on the high side of the trail, looked up from the ground, and spoke a single sentence to me in English: “Sometimes you don’t know what you have lost until you’ve lost it.” As I took in what I had just heard, he simply stepped around me and continued his descent down the trail.

　　That moment in my life was a small miracle. The reason is less about what the man said and more about the timing and the context. The year was 1989, and the Cold War was drawing to a close. What the man on the trail couldn’t have known is that it was during my Egyptian pilgrimage (朝圣), and specifically during my hike to the top of Moses mountain, that I’d set the time aside to make decisions that would affect my career in the defense industry, my friends, my family, and ultimately, my life.

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