My first time leaving the US was on a trip was to London--a city I had expected to be magical. And it was, albeit in a different way than I expected. I remember thinking. "Wait a second. Things aren't all that different here. People are still people. And there's still a wide spectrum of types of people." As I've gone further away from my home country, I've started to see more and more differences. After not long in Moscow, I remember thinking back to my naivete in London. "Things are different here-especially the people," the cynic in me said. And then something happened. I saw past the scowls and the furs. I started to see the similarities again. On the rare occasion that I didn't shut myself up in my cyber realm while riding the metro, I began wondering about the stories around me. There was a chunk of thick lens missing from that old man's glasses and I wondered why. There was the burly and moderately frightening-looking man who offered his seat to the mother carrying her baby in a pack. His face grew tender as he made eye contact with that baby. There was the girl somewhere around my age who actually smiled at me and suppressed a laugh after a piece of the package she was opening flung in my direction.
And then one day I got the real wake up call. I was riding the bus and stuck in traffic on what I already considered a bad day when I noticed something out the window. It was a sunset. The backdrop to the skyline was lit up in hues of orange. And there I was stuck. It was as if the traffic jam was there to force me to look outside my own agenda and feeble misfortunes. It was if the sky was winking at me while saying "Yep. You're late for your appointment. I'm going to continue to make you late until you realize that the world hasn't come to an end."
The next morning I went to open the curtains and he was back--coming up and peeking around the buildings, lighting the tops of the building on fire with a good morning smile. And that night I watched him return back down behind some buildings and a tall, arched footbridge that I had just discovered.
As I turned my back and continued on my way I couldn't help but think of my situation differently. I am living in a city with history in the pavement.
People are people;
There is good in the world;
And no matter where you go, the sun will be there to rise and set, like a giant smile and wink serving as a constant reminder that there is beauty everywhere if you just open your eyes and look.
I'm not sayin'; I'm just sayin'.
