The People We Will Never Know

We project most precious bits of ourselves onto them

Photo by Yoann Boyer on Unsplash

There are people in our daily lives who we will never know. Yet, they permeate the corners of our awareness when we barely notice.

The bartender who remembers how you take your coffee and always asks how you are. That man who must be living somewhere in the neighborhood and you’re not quite sure where, but he passes your window every morning around the same time with his greyhound dog. A woman who sits in the window across the street, and you can just about tell the features of her face from behind a thin veil of the curtain.

All these people. You’ll never know them. And, they probably don’t know that you’re looking. And yet, they become real characters in the landscape of your mind, waiting around to be introduced into the bigger picture of your story.

“Sun been down for days
A pretty flower in a vase
A slipper by the fireplace
A cello lying in its case

Soon she’s down the stairs
Her morning elegance she wears
The sound of water makes her dream
Awoken by a cloud of steam
She pours a daydream in a cup
A spoon of sugar sweetens up” — Her Morning Elegance, Oren Lavie

Certain observations about people can only be made when we don’t know them. When we don’t speak and feel permission…