13 January, 2005
wouldn't it be nice

One of the main reasons i still choose to live in the "country", meaning a rural area, is the fact that people will acknowledge your presence. maybe it's little more than a grunt or a nod, more often a drawn out conversation or just a "hello", without any perception of ulterior motive. simply, recognizing another human being.

this has always been a problem with having to deal with impersonal, soulless northern Virginia, where chance and practicality dictate that i have to work. that's the unpleasant fact of country life--it's impossible to live and make a living wage there... unless you do something illegal or kiss up to the powers-that-be. it usually looks the same.

more often than not, in the soul gulag, people assume the safest of contact... a furtive glance at thirty paces, if that. not to be repeated. then they move on.

that's why a chance encounter with someone of another nationality brings it all into focus.

perhaps i damn the area unfairly. more than any other place i've been, the spreading megalopolis that disperses from DC is full of those from everywhere else... probably on the same mission as I--having to go where the opportunities happen to be. unless you're an extrovert, or self-confident, or willing to face just about anything, it's difficult to make the briefest of connections. too much fear, or suspicion, who knows... it just leaves one cold.

standing in the queue at the DIYstore, a young lady was walking the cashier through the motions of attempting to scan her stuff... there seemed to be much confusion, if the furrowed brow behind the register was any indication. hers was a very familiar accent--almost identical to Biggles, whose family still lives in the Home Counties, south of London. hers, also, were the most adorable of children. her daughter, about three years old, was trying to help with the UPCs. her little boy was fast asleep in the cart... pacifier lodged in sleeping lips, head lolled to the right, propped up by the collar of his coat.

mom caught me smiling at the peaceful expression, and smiled back. i asked if she might be from England, especially around Guildford, and she surprisedly affirmed. then the conversation turned to her family that still lived there, how abyssmal the currency exchange rate is (for Americans, that is), and various little insignificances that people converse about by chance. we said our pleasant goodbyes, and that was that.

so simple. spontaneous. without strings.

and gratifying.

so nice it would be if it wasn't so rare.

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