The man kept screaming, kept at it. The whole train journey. He was screaming at an empty chair. Having an angry conversation with the empty seat. He was perhaps schizophrenic or perhaps he just had tourettes, I do not know, but it scared me. Scared me so much so, that I moved to another wagon. I sat beside a woman. She turned as I sat down, and smiled at me.
"He is talking to himself", I said. I don't know what I expected from her, for her to smile in amusement or fear...I really do not know, but I did not expect to hear what she said next.
"Imagine how tough he must have it" she replied, smiling at me. She was beautiful. Her smile was so serene and...quiet. A beautiful, serene, quiet smile."I wonder what he is saying"...that beautiful smile again...
"Life is not that easy" I said, feeling ashamed that I had not put myself in the poor man's shoes, and now looking down at my own shoes, feeling stupid...
She looked at me...in my eyes she could see what I wanted to say..."he has it so much tougher than I do"...thats what my eyes said...
She put one hand over mine,
"It is not easy for anybody" she said. She smiled again and as she got up to leave the train, I knew she would say good bye, I knew she would say something.
"Have a nice day" she said.
I don't know why she affected me so, a complete stranger. Her beauty, her smile, her empathy for an old man...
I wonder who she is...
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8 comments:
Ugh! I hate it when someone else does or says something that makes them a bigger person than me. And then I realize that hating them makes me an even smaller person.
lovely. Well written.
Madam, I miss talking to you and reading your stuff. =)
Hope all is well oh.
And as per your recent comment at solomonsydelle.com, I am unfortunately not allowed to share what the thing is, but suffice to say it is not one of the examples you so eloquently suggested, lol!
The angels we come across without knowing. People like that inspire me to do better, be better, live better. Thanks for sharing.
wow...
we always think that we have the worst luck in the world,
lil do we know.....
Those are the kinds of people I try to be like (but not been able to so far :-) )comely, kind and empathetic...they just leave you wondering if you cannot try to be better....nice one...
I like her words "It is not easy for anybody"
She's probably someone who has had it tough too. And has emerged a better person.
werrin dey>>>have the urge to blog ...so watch this space
One of the hardest things to do is to put yourself in someone elses shoes and see things from their perspective. Most of us are too selfish to do that... but still, Im sure the guy had not taken his medication that day.
Kr.
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