I walk to work. I mix sound for television and film and the studio where I work is only a mile or so away from my house. Even on the few days here when it rains I walk. I love it. It gives me time to think and process but lately I’ve found another reason to love it. An old man.
He must be in his eighties. He is thin and frail and has a walker with a seat. Each morning for the last few weeks he has been coming down my street when I leave and I pass him at about the same place, give or take a few houses. He finds a shady spot and sits on his walker and looks out over the world and then he gets up and walks on a few houses further until he finds the next shady spot. The first few times we passed each other we nodded and cracked the smallest of smiles. Maybe a smirk. Maybe less.
But last week I was walking down the street and I thought about how I hardly passed anyone on my way to work. The sidewalks are mostly empty. But this old man is there nearly everyday. Why wouldn’t I say hello and ask him how he was doing? As I approached I stopped and smiled and asked him how he was and that’s when he surprised me. He reached out and took my hand and held on to it and spoke in broken Italian or another language from the old country and I don’t really know what he was trying to say but he had the kindest smile on his face. Huge.
The next day the same thing. And everyday since when I see him, he takes my hand and smiles. Now I don’t know anything about his life and he knows nothing of mine, but we smile at each other and look in each other’s eyes and recognize the other soul within. And that is all it takes to change the world. My day is better because of him.
So next time you are thinking about just nodding or looking the other way when you meet someone on the street or in the hall at work try it. Smile. It’s easy to blame our smartphones or our busy lives for our unwillingness to take a moment and see the other souls around us, these fellow travelers on the way to unknown destinations, but we have always been this way.
As people we are protective and fearful of those outside of our tribe but they are just like you, they are just as lost and scared and hopeful and joyous. They have each one come a long way to to get where they are and you can never be sure of what trials await them or how deep their scars run but you can be sure that they are looking for the same thing you are. They are looking for signs of their own presence and a smile is all it takes to show it to them.