I took a walk today on the busy streets of NewYork, and found myself lost in unchartered lands of mans exsistence. My intentions started out simple enough, to get a little excerise, stretch my legs and give my mind a break. Like a tag team of wrestlers that never enter the ring togther. While I write and think my body sits at rest. This walk will be different. The weather for this Sunday(the name holds true today but, Why do we have a Sunday and no Rainday?) could't have been orderd any better. It was a fair day. Cool air tempatures combined with the warm rayes from the sun wear well together. As angry as Mother Nature is at all of us, she still can't help herself from providing a day like this. Maybe, she wants us to have a clear picture of what we once had...I am surrounded by people, yet I feel very alone. I find it funny how the only time I don't feel alone, is when I am...It's a busy street with many people out enjoying a Sunday off. Like me they are searching for distractions that will allow their minds to coast a bit while getting some excersise for the body. Hopefully it will be enough to keep them focused as they climb the ladder and over come the many hurdles life will throw in their paths as they pass From a mundane Monday to will it ever end wensday and on to a frantic friday. I first saw smiles and a mass of beings giving off the impression of a happy exisistence. But, As I looked closer I saw something and felt something that screamed of contidiction. I had never seen it quite so clear before. They were not happy. They all appeared hunched over, as if burdend with the weight of the world added to that of thier world. It all most appears too much for their frames to take. Most people exsist in this precarious state. A weight just barely able to be carried. Their grimaces contorted to form a smile, the same smile everyone has. The faces and actions were carefully orcastrated to hide their true identity and mask their real feelings. We have been made to believe that this is the way. That while we are out in public, we are not to reveal our real emotions. Why is that? We are told not to wear your emotions on our sleeves, where they can be seen by others, big boys don't cry, never let them see you sweat. Most pass each without even the slightest acknowledgement of each others presence. If eye contact is made, a nod or a standard smile is exchanged. A smile that is always carried when you leave the privacy and security of your home to venture out. Like an umbrella next to the door to be carried when rain is possible. I thought of a busy ant city and realized they are constanly passing signals back and forth. Crossing paths with another and ignoring their exsistance is just not done. They are not putting a false face on. No, animals have not been taught to hide their emotions. They do not respect nor understand the concept of "personal space". Just watch two dogs crossing paths. They get about friendly as one could get.. placeing their noses in a place you and I consider high up the scale of person spaces. Why not embrace those moments when we are forced by confinment to share "personal space" those usually uncomfortable moments when we are confused because we are not shown how to handle them, like being in an elevator with someone, both staring up at the numbers so they wont have to acknowledge the other. By making eye contact we would be forced to speak, that smile we took with us when we left the house wont cut it, this up close and personal. "That" smile and a nod would only increase the uneasiness. So we are forced by "strangeness" to speak. The less the better, so the obligatory "hello" and if feeling bold enough "how are you?" is utterd and then mimiced as if in the presence of a parrot. It's the idea "familiarity breeds contempt" why not, "familiarity breeds content"? Take that brief moment of time in shared personal space and learn something about someone else?..... You may just learn something about yourself in the process.