Friday, February 15, 2013

reminder: We all suffer








October 19th 2012

The urge to write...I miss blogging.

Especially about the small things. Like that bloke I see in the gym, and feel slightly hostile towards. He always uses the rowing machine for ages and ages, till the sweat is flying off him.  I send him unfriendly, impatient vibes from across the room, pedaling or lifting while I wait. Hurry up.  He’s one of those familiar faces in our little town: don’t know his name, have never spoken to him, imagine we wouldn’t much like eachother. 

Yesterday I was in a cafe flicking through the local paper while waiting to meet a friend, and I noticed this man a couple of tables away, sitting with a woman. A few minutes later I heard sobbing and looked up to see him with his head in his hands, shoulders shuddering, the woman apparently comforting him.

I’ll probably never know why and it doesn’t matter - the end of a relationship, a death, a medical prognosis, a heartbreak about a child?

I felt such a rush of sympathy for that man, in that moment. Felt my heart open. Remembered that we all suffer. I sort of wanted to thank him, but of course I quickly looked away, not wanting him to be embarrassed that I’d seen him so exposed and vulnerable.

1 comment:

Rossco said...

Its so hard to take a deep breath and find patience sometimes. Hopefully we aren't too often on the receiving end of hostile thoughts projected our way.....it all comes down to being aware of others when we are in a public setting. The endorphin highs from strenuous exercise often send us into faraway states of meditaion.....