Faces in the Crowd

03 Aug 2005

I'm not sure if this only happens to me. I suspect that it doesn't. I suspect that everyone goes through the same thing. You know, how you generally follow the same route to work, around the same time every day and there are people in the crowd that you start to recognize?

You see those people. You remember their faces. You remember their eyes. You start to wonder about them. What do they do. Where do the work. Who are they? You think about the best way to start a conversation with them out in the cold, sterile, world where if you say hello to a stranger they think you're going to beg for money or an escaped mental patient.

There is this woman I see on the way to work sometimes. She gets on one stop after I do and she gets off about six stops before me. She isn't especially beautiful in the traditional physical way. I'm sure a lot of people over look her when they themselves scan the crowd. We've locked eyes a few times though, and there is something there. There is something deep inside of her that is undeniably powerful, beautiful, and real. I don't think she knows it's there either.

I will never talk to her. She will never talk to me. That would mean breaking the rule of talking to a stranger on the metro, and the rule of breaking the silence. Part of me though, just wants to stop her someday and whisper “You're beautiful. Maybe everyone doesn't see it, but you really are.” and then just walk away.

Then I could spend everyother time that we see eachother in the crowd, wondering if what I said meant anything or changed anything in her life.

I need more sleep…