The highlight of my week happened today when I walked into the student center for lunch. THERE WERE DOGS. EVERYWHERE. And by "everywhere" I clearly mean "on the first floor by the stairs in front of the Kent Market." Definitely made my day.
Going to the student center for lunch on my own is one of my favorite things to do. Not only does it give me chance to sit alone and think, I get the chance to observe the world around me.
At noon on a weekday, the student center is full of people coming and going. Students, workers, people just passing through. 100s of people passing through at the prime lunch time, grabbing their food and getting on their way. Some sitting down to enjoy their food, others rushing out as quickly as they rushed in. It makes me wonder what their stories are. Where are they coming from? Where are they going to? What brought them to this place at this very moment in time?
As I sat down to enjoy my Subway sub, I observed the tables around me. A student watching a movie on his ipad, headphones in, blind to the world around him.A couple eating together at the table next to me, holding hands across the table. A group of office workers pushing two tables together behind me so they could all have a lunch meeting. A woman sitting at a table by herself to later be joined by a friend she saw walking through. Groups of students going between tables as they see different friends and classmates arrive. A student rushing through with headphones in, jamming to whatever song they were listening to.
Each individual observation comes with its own set of questions and observations. All of these normal ordinary people going about their daily lives, observing the world around them just as I was.
Everything is so interconnected, even if we fail to see it half the time.It's times like these when I sit down and actually observe the world around me that I begin to take notice of the things happening around me. And in moments like these I realize that while I may be alone in the student center eating lunch by myself, I'm not actually alone. The hustle and bustle around me gives me comfort. But at the same time...it makes me feel tiny. I am one of many. One person.
It's a perspective that gets lost in my day-to-day craziness that is my life.
Sometimes it's nice to be reminded.
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