I keep wondering whether there is anything wrong with my face, my attitude or my general aura. Is it me or is it them? Or should we claim shared responsibility?
Here is the case at hand. You be the judge!
On my way to work, I spend more time walking than sitting in a vehicle which, for me, is an absolute delight (not to mention the reduced cost of transport as a result of my walking habits). My routine goes roughly along these lines: walk for 15 minutes to the bus stop, catch a minibus, drop off after about 5 minutes to reunite my feet with the street for another 10-minute walk down to the office.
It would appear that a number of people around my area have a similar routine to mine and they have become characters in my life. I see them day after day, walking along the same path going about their duties I know nothing of.
There is a Japanese-looking woman who was one of the first ‘morning walking people’ I noticed because of her funky African fusion fashion style. She invariably wears a serene look on her face. There are the various groups of two or three Americans who come and go every couple of months – volunteers I assume. Then there is the young woman who likes to plait her hair in tight cornrows and keeps her face flat like a weathered shell on the beach. Her legs take her to places far from where her mind actually is. I sometimes see her in the evening on the way home, still walking along the road in the opposite direction. I can only speculate about her life. Where does she spend her days? The way I see it, we trade places in day/night shifts in a well-rehearsed ballet where we are unwilling puppets.
There are many more protagonists to this story that I have incorporated into the flow of actions and emotions I call my routine. Whenever they fail to show up for several days at a time, I feel their absence. When they change hairstyles, I mentally comment. When I am amused by their mannerisms, I smile a whimsical smile at them. When I am falling apart, I hold on to them as a pearl to its oyster in a harmony inexplicable but existing all the same.
And when I am happy, I look into someone’s eyes and I greet them to share some of the energy I feel radiating all around me. I find it quite strange that most of the recipients of my hi/morning/sasa etc turn out to be impermeable to such energy. Many will just throw me a dull look and pass by without responding. Some will stare a puzzled stare. Much to my demise, even children have adopted this blank unfazed look that scrutinizes, unable to grab on to the human connection.
Is greeting a random somebody on the street considered an infringement on their personal space, I wonder? Why this coldness, this reluctance to share a second with a stranger, a second which costs nothing but a smile and whose existence is priceless?
