Being cheap on rent means I have to commute. Most of the time, I’m listening to my iPod, playing Poker on my iPhone (and get lots of “hey wanna be friends?” messages…how do they even know I’m a woman? I could be a 50 year old naked man with a beer can in my hand), or doing some last minute reading before class, and what not. Well, the other day, my iPhone died on me. LET NOT THAT HAPPEN!? Well, it did. So I just sat there, listening to the hum of the bus and just watched…..
And I began wondering, who are all these people and where are they going? What are their lives like? Take the man sitting in front of me, I can only see half of the back of his balding head. Oh and his feet. Leisurely sprawled into the forbidden aisle. Oh and he’s wearing big wooly socks. And did I mention it’s summer over here (real summer, not like a Minnesota summer). I wonder why he’s wearing such thick socks? Maybe he just came back from an Arctic expedition and has frost bites? Maybe his dead grandmother knitted those for him and he wears them in memory of her? Well, I guess we’ll never find out.
And then there’s the girl sitting next to me. She’s constantly taking photos of herself. So much so, that I think I will have her face imprinted in my memory forever. I want to tap her on the shoulders and ask her, “Is it the case that you happen to forget your own face every few seconds? Is this why you keep taking photos of yourself?” But I was worried it might not be nice to ask such a thing and really, if anything did happen, I was on a bus and it’s kinda hard to escape.
People watching can be quite fascinating and amusing. Each person has their life, their story, and they momentarily crossed into yours. You might not even notice it, and they will most probably remain a faceless person to you. Maybe when we stop rushing and stop being so self-absorbed in ourselves, we might see more.
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