I don't know why I yesterday was so perceptive of things I otherwise don't notice at all. I was on my way from school to my mother's work to discuss philosophy with one of her colleagues who had a few years ago studied at a university I am thinking of applying to. I was in a cheerful mood (knowing that I wouldn't have to be back at school in one and a half week) when I turned a corner and the sun and the warmth of it, hit my face and all the sounds-- the engines of the many cars, the buses, the sound of feet against the asphalted streets, cell phones ringing and receiving text messages, air planes in the sky above, automatic doors to shops opening and closing, money being withdrawn, conversations being held, pages being turned in news papers... I was no longer in a cheerful mood. In fact, I was in no mood at all. I was just a receiver, nothing but five senses. I turned my head right, and there sat a woman, wrapped in a blanket, with a paper cup in her hand. She was not of the common beggar kind. She didn't seem at all miserable or trying to look like it. No, she held out her cup, smiled and sang a tune and said hello to everyone who met her eyes. A picture flashed through my head, in which I sat down with her, sang with her and held out my own paper cup. We weren't waiting for coins, but for the rain to fall. And everytime it would, we would drink up what was in our cups and then resume our observation of the world hurrying past us.
I kept walking and soon found myself on the subway, musing over what I had just experienced. After a while, I felt a pair of eyes staring intensely at me. I was tempted to stare back, but feeling that this was someone not clean of drugs, I did not. The next station, however, the person switched seats and sat down beside me. He said "hello" and held out his left hand for me to shake. I greeted him back and shook his hand and observed this poor man's features for the first time. He looked like he came straight from a horror movie, his eyes narrowed, you could only just see something red in them, no other color. From them, fell tears not of sadness but from the strain of keeping the eyes open. His teeth were a brownish yellow and he wore a wicked smile, the kind which is used frequently in horror movies. 'Evil', was the first word I came to think of, and yet I was not afraid. Not until I tried to pull back my hand and the man wouldn't let it go. I calmly explained I was getting off at the next station, he said he was getting off too and asked me where I would go after I had gotten off. I said I would take the bus.
"Which bus?" was his reply.
I told him which and he replied:
"I'm taking it too."
To my surprise, I laughed and said:
"Oh really, what an incredible coincidence!"
To this, the man's grip of my hand softened, as well as his expression. 'Unfortunate', was instead the word forming in my head now. At the next station, I helped him get off and then we parted, each in our own direction, waving each other good bye.
After I had had the meeting I had set out for, I headed home. On the subway, I sat beside two girls of my own age. They were discussing something vigorously and, not being able to focus on the book I was reading, I listened to what they were saying. Apparently they had some day before set out in a group to vandalize and scribble on a commercial for a tv-show they found offensive, in order to make others take note to the offense and report it. They had also made sure to collect money within the group so that the expense of removing the scribbles would be covered by themselves, after the commercial had been charged. Their mission had apparently been successful and they were quite pleased with themselves, one could tell. What a creative way to solve a problem peacefully!
It is only a few days of the year I become so evidently aware of all the people I don't know. This was one of them.
I kept walking and soon found myself on the subway, musing over what I had just experienced. After a while, I felt a pair of eyes staring intensely at me. I was tempted to stare back, but feeling that this was someone not clean of drugs, I did not. The next station, however, the person switched seats and sat down beside me. He said "hello" and held out his left hand for me to shake. I greeted him back and shook his hand and observed this poor man's features for the first time. He looked like he came straight from a horror movie, his eyes narrowed, you could only just see something red in them, no other color. From them, fell tears not of sadness but from the strain of keeping the eyes open. His teeth were a brownish yellow and he wore a wicked smile, the kind which is used frequently in horror movies. 'Evil', was the first word I came to think of, and yet I was not afraid. Not until I tried to pull back my hand and the man wouldn't let it go. I calmly explained I was getting off at the next station, he said he was getting off too and asked me where I would go after I had gotten off. I said I would take the bus.
"Which bus?" was his reply.
I told him which and he replied:
"I'm taking it too."
To my surprise, I laughed and said:
"Oh really, what an incredible coincidence!"
To this, the man's grip of my hand softened, as well as his expression. 'Unfortunate', was instead the word forming in my head now. At the next station, I helped him get off and then we parted, each in our own direction, waving each other good bye.
After I had had the meeting I had set out for, I headed home. On the subway, I sat beside two girls of my own age. They were discussing something vigorously and, not being able to focus on the book I was reading, I listened to what they were saying. Apparently they had some day before set out in a group to vandalize and scribble on a commercial for a tv-show they found offensive, in order to make others take note to the offense and report it. They had also made sure to collect money within the group so that the expense of removing the scribbles would be covered by themselves, after the commercial had been charged. Their mission had apparently been successful and they were quite pleased with themselves, one could tell. What a creative way to solve a problem peacefully!
It is only a few days of the year I become so evidently aware of all the people I don't know. This was one of them.
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