2019-09-28 - Man in train
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A while ago i was traveling with the train from a work related
activity back to home. Leaves were starting to change colour and
getting ready to start falling off the trees soon. The light was
changing to have this more orange glow to it; The glow that lets
you know that summer is really over and autumn is really starting.
I was sitting in a moderately busy train, with lots of other
travelers coming from the airport, moving their own ways. Amidst
the muffled chatter of my fellow travelers in my compartment of the
train, i saw an older grey haired Chinese man on his own, quietly
and carefully eating an orange.
The way the setting sunlight hit the orange in the hands of the
man, made everything look beautiful. And i don't know if it was
this lighting, or the way the man eating the orange looked, or the
way the quiet mumbling of the train compartment sounded to my ears;
But for a brief moment the whole world fell into place at once, and
all of a sudden everything made sense, and i found myself
overwhelmed by a feeling of love and extreme joy.
I started to feel totally amazed how this man, all the way from
China, was doing something so mundane as eating an orange.
Apparently somebody from the other side of the planet could also
enjoy eating oranges. And i realized his body preferred the same
sustenance as any other human would do. I started to think how this
man might have taken along this orange on his flight. He might have
looked forward to sit down and eat it since his flight. Maybe it
was even given to him by his caring wife, who would miss him for
his journey in Europe. Maybe this man was eating his orange, and
thinking about home, or about his kids.
I started thinking about light, and how the semi-translucent orange
piece in the hands of the man seem to lit up around its edges by
the setting late-summer sun shining through the train window. And
how i was able to perceive this spectacle due to the same light
hitting my eyes.
The quiet atmosphere in the train made me realize that it was
awesome that in this particular moment and location, the whole
civilization thing was working out pretty well. People were quietly
attending to their own things, silently chatting to each other. And
it was amazing to sit along with all these fellow travelers.
While the man was eating a piece of orange i started thinking about
digestion systems, and how amazing it is that nutrients from this
orange would provide energy to the body of the man, just as it does
for all of us. And for most of us, this whole digestion system
works without any conscious effort. Thinking about this, i realized
that all mundane things are practically miracles. The fact that i
was sitting here in this train, observing this whole spectacle with
my own eyes was another miracle. And it was an awesome, in the most
proper sense.
And while i was thinking about this, i realized i was sitting
comfortably in a fast moving train; Bringing me from one place to
another in such an amazing speed that people in the past could only
dream off.
With all this happening in a short moment, i was sitting in the
train overwhelmed by joy, tearing up from the realization that all
humanity was one, that life is an absolute miracle, even in the
smallest mundane acts. And realizing the fact that i was incredibly
lucky to be part of it. It filled me with happiness, and it felt
like being touched by divinity for a brief moment. I was in awe.
