Random Strangers

Ever stare into the face of random people and wonder what is their story - observe their walk, the contours and expression of their face and think what has their life been like; what is that expression about. Ever smiled just because a random stranger passed you by with a smile on their face; or feel a deep sense of sorrow because someone walked by with a pained sorrowful expression on their face.

For me it's not those random faces of happy expressions which intrigue me, but the pained sorrowful faces; the permanent expression of anger - those expression which do not necessarily convey elation on any level. I once saw an older man sitting on the back of a pick up, clothes worn, skin darkened by the sun. As the van passed by I noticed two things; it had been a long had day for him, and he had a lot on his mind - but what ever it was on his mind weighed him down and drained him a lot more than the labors of the day did. I thought for a moment what is it that pained him so, and why is it that man (by that I mean mankind) must endure such hardship - why do so few have so much and so many struggle. Was he worried about how he would feed his family, how his body ached from those hard days and he needed rest but could not afford it; was he disappointed in how his life had turned out, what was it that caused him to outwardly express what he inwardly felt.

This morning I was an elderly gentleman walking through the streets with his cane - his face a blank, expressionless, he seemed like the effects of age and illness had taken over his body and there was just enough energy left in him to shuffle one foot pass the other. And I wondered, how did he live his life, was he happy - does his family care about him. Side note, I swear I spend too much time in idle thoughts.

I think what really got me thinking about this, apart from the expressions on these people's faces was the fact that in our day to day interaction with people, we rarely if at all ever stop to consider that person's story, what has that person been through for the day - are they having a good day, did they even eat for the day, are they feeling utterly depressed. We go through our lives sometime oblivious to other people, whether they affect our lives directly or indirectly - maybe we need to stop to ponder about the life of a random stranger every now and then...