Ithaca – ElPropósito4 min de lectura

For Alfonso Medina, my friend and teacher

Toledo, Spain, December 15, 2024

I rarely write two posts in one day. When I published this morning’s, I hadn’t yet heard the sad news: my friend and teacher Alfonso Medina had passed away.

You’re gone, my teacher, and I feel it deep in my soul. Some people should never leave, and you were one of them.

Friend, mentor, trainer, teacher. No single word captures what you were, and always will be, to me. You were there whenever I needed you, early in the morning and long past what was late for you, and you never let me down, even when my questions were the most obvious ones. You were with me when Juan Diego passed away, you saw me in the hardest and the happiest moments of my life, and you walked beside me through coaching and through life. You were a light in the dark and a friend I could always count on.

Today you taught me the most valuable lesson in coaching: at some point the coach steps away so you can walk your own path. Today you were the one who stepped away, and now it’s up to me to carry on with my path and my life’s purpose. Your teaching and your legacy are intact, and they will live on.

Thank you for everything, Alfonso. My prayers are with you. May God and the Virgin Mary welcome you into their Holy Glory, and from there, together with my dear Juan Diego, may you always intercede for all of us.

To his wife Paloma and his son Alex, my deepest condolences and a big hug. When you read this, I want you to know that Alfonso leaves a great friend on this side of the world.

Until we meet again. Today your journey to Ithaca comes to an end, and I carry on with mine. I’ll see you down the road. Wait for me.

P.S. Alfonso Medina was my coaching teacher, trainer and mentor from my very first day in coaching. A coach of coaches. A while back I asked him about his WhatsApp status, "Back to Ithaca." That led me to this wonderful poem, which I find myself remembering today:

Ithaca, by Constantine Cavafy (1911)

When you set out on the journey to Ithaca,
pray that your road be long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Laestrygonians and the Cyclopes,
furious Poseidon, do not fear them.
You will never meet them on your road
as long as your thoughts stay high,
as long as a rare emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Laestrygonians and the Cyclopes,
fierce Poseidon, you will not meet them
unless you carry them within your soul,
unless your soul sets them up before you.

Pray that your road be long.
May there be many summer mornings
when you enter, with what delight, with what joy,
harbors you are seeing for the first time.
Stop at the markets of Phoenicia
and buy fine goods,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of every kind,
as many sensual perfumes as you can.
Go to many cities of Egypt
to learn and keep learning from the wise.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
Arriving there is your destiny.
But do not hurry the journey.
Better that it last many years,
and that you reach the island already old,
rich with all you gained along the way,
not expecting Ithaca to give you riches.

Ithaca gave you the beautiful journey.
Without her you would never have set out.
She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca did not deceive you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you will have understood what Ithacas mean.