The Train
I jumped on the train…
It has just started moving…
Moving from Stockholm to Malmo takes probably four hours maybe a little bit more…
I’m wearing blue jeans with white sneakers, a light blue jacket and white Sony headphones on my ears…
I have probably jumped not on the train but into a new mood…
I have stepped into a micro subculture…
Now I am one additional character in this moving novel…
Here every stranger has their own story…
Everyone got on the train somewhere and somewhere everyone will leave…
Some of them are trying to read a book… some watch on their phone… some look out the window… but everyone somehow needs to talk with someone … with someone, who they get along with well… 🤝
I am moving through the train to find my seat…
There are always some random occasions and you never know who will seat by you or the contrary… Oh, there are two seats near each other… I’m here first.. waiting for others to arrive from different stations… there is a long way to go…
It appears I have an aisle seat… not the window… there was an option but I left it to fate… so now I will sit near the aisle and there is one empty place between me and the window…
I’ve putted down my backpack, the cup of coffee that I bought 5 minutes ago and I’ve prepared a new book on my kindle, actually not a book it’s an essay by George Orwell – “Shooting an Elephant”…
The train slowly speeds up.. minutes of my life followed back…
I am keen on knowing who will seat by me…
Maybe a journalist and she will tell me about some intriguing research…
Maybe a writer… and we will talk about his last book…
Maybe some photo model… and I will enjoy looking at her during the journey pretending that I’m looking out the window…
Maybe a child… energetic and funny…
Maybe some lady… who will share some advice with me… about her life experience…
Maybe…
But… I can’t believe my eyes… suddenly I see my father… omg Dad my lovely dad… what’s happening? where are you going?… We embraced… Both were in double wandering when appears that we are sitting next to each other on the same train…
We talked for hours…
After this, we sat silently for some time…
I put on my headphones and continued listening to music and realized…
I’ve never looked at him as a stranger…
And suddenly so many new questions appeared in my mind about him which I’ve never asked before…
Dad, what are your goals now? Did you achieve the most important of those…?
What advice would you give me if we had never met before…?
Who was the first person to change your imagination about life…?
…
How small a step I needed to take to discover the other side of him… I just needed to look for a few minutes, not as a child or son…
It appears then I needed to look at him from far to move closer….
How easily can change things…
We need only choose a different point of view…
Different perspective…
Ahh.. yes…
When you are on the train whom do you prefer to take a seat nearby?
Maybe it does not have a sense and the main point is to meet someone…
Someone… sensible and open-minded…
and then?
Then…. follow the speed of the train…