I had only known Ambassador Otto as Dr. Otto who was my mom's colleague at the hospital, choir conductor at our local church, and his kids went to the same school as me. When I moved to New York, I had an opportunity to get to know him better. He lived his faith and truly portrayed God's humility. And sometimes, this got him in trouble with Judy.
So one weekend, Ambassador had an accident. I cannot remember the details of what exactly happened to him, but whatever it was caused him to need a walking aid. Remember the part where I said he was humble, yeah, he understood the need of a walking aid to be just that -- something that can aid him in his walking. To most people, this would be a cane. To most people who are Permanent Representatives at the UN (the highest ranking official other than Head of State that walks the halls of the United Nations Headquarters), this would mean a cane, likely dark brown in tone and varnished with a rubber cap at the bottom to ensure good traction.
To Ambassador Otto, he needed a walking aid, that meant to him, anything that could do that job. Come Monday morning, in typical fashion, Ambassador Otto is the first one in the office, arriving shortly after 7am, after having done some sort of exercise, which on most days was a 4-mile jog around Roosevelt Island. Nacho and I would come in after, of course feeling a little embarrassed that we never make it in before him even though he tells us our office hours are 9am to 6pm. We do not notice anything until he starts getting ready to get to his first engagement out of the office. He walks out of his office using a mop stick as a cane. And in typical Caleb fashion, as Judy usually says, he says as a matter of fact, that he had an accident and needed something to aid in his walking so he checked the tried and true "hallway store" which doubles also as the trash chute where people leave things that are still useable for those who need to grab, and saw a perfectly useable broken mop stick. You could hear Nacho laughing and in his Spanish accent say, Ambassador, what is that, you cannot be using that. And of course Ambassador was unfazed by this comment and proceeds to walk off with his make-shift cane. Upon his return, Judy had arrived at the office and the look on her face when he walked in with his "cane." Judy herself is one that is very practical and if something can still be used, she'll upscale it and continue to use it. However, this one time, she put her foot down and said Caleb, I'm finding you a proper cane. You cannot be walking around the UN with a broken mop stick as a walking aid. Judy looked mortified when that door opened and in she saw her husband with a mop stick. Of course Ambassador tried to reason with her and said this is only temporary and we should not waste money, but she was not having it. And like every time when he gives in to Judy, he just says, yeah yeah yeah, fine, make it fast, I have another meeting and if you're not back in time, I'll use my "cane" again. And then he laughs, the kind of laughter that you know is teasing Judy. Haha. At this point, the entire office is just cracking up and laughing out loud at this exchange between Mr. & Mrs. Caleb Otto.
Ambassador Otto was a very practical man. He was never materialistic and did not care to follow trends. And rightly so, he was the trend. Kindness, integrity, and compassion are the trends he had that pass the test of time and never go out of style. We love and miss you, CTOO.
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