#6

Perspectives of Strangers

By Sid Watson.

Illustrations by @sadiebloom

Weeks ago, just as restaurants reopened, I took myself to a local cafe for a latte and a banana bread slice (basic, I know, but scrumptious nonetheless). Anyway, as I sat in the cafe’s small garden, imagining myself to be the main character of my life story, I began to wonder on the lives of the many dozens walking past me on the road. Who were they? What preoccupied them today? Where were they headed? And, of course, what role (if any) I played in their life story (don’t pretend you’ve never wondered the same). And in this philosophising session, I had a small revelation.

I was hit by the sudden awareness that alongside my personal, whacky and wonderful life as I experience it, there are almost 8 billion others around the world, experiencing their own lives; going through their own trails and tribulations, with parents, families, friends, problems and joys of their own. And within these billions of lives, I am at best a supporting character, if I play a role at all. And I don’t mean this in a negative sense at all, I simply mean that, as I sat at that cafe (and still as I sit in my university library now) I saw myself as playing the starring role in the world’s play, just as we all do; h ow else can we really perceive ourselves, if not as the main character in our own life story? But in reality, while we are each the centres of our own proverbial worlds, each other person around us has their own perceived world, in which they are likely the centre; and in each they have they have their own worries, excitements, pet-peeves, habits, hatreds, and more. 

Not to get all third-eye-open, yoga-guru on you (because I am certainly not qualified for any of those titles), but in that moment I realised that knowing this is a sort of compassion, and maintaining this compassion in every situation is, I believe, something to strive for. Say someone is unexpectedly impatient or snappy with me, my first reaction is definitely to think “what did I do to upset them?”, or maybe if I’m in a bad mood, to snap back at them; either reaction would likely result in me feeling bad, which I might take out on someone else, or internalise and simply not be in a good mood, creating further negative interactions down the line. But, with compassion for their lives, in which they may be dealing with things that I am entirely unaware of, I could completely bypass the poor reaction (whatever it may be) and simply try to help them with whatever the root of the problem is. In short, focusing on the core issue rather than the surface symptom. I guess my point is that awareness of the lives and perspectives of everyone around us along with our own can perhaps give us greater compassion, so that we may react better when someone is not at their best, and hope that they will do the same for us.