"People Watching"

A common belief about women is that they have a lot of shoes. Shoes they may wear once and then never again. But don't we all wear shoes? Don't we all at least find ourselves thinking of wearing different shoes. Following a different path. Living a different a life. Being someone else, if only for a moment.

I have find myself doing this constantly. Just thinking of being someone else. Living their routine or lack thereof. Tying the dirty laces of their shoes. I imagine their minds, their thoughts. I wonder what the wonder about. What intrigues them, motivates them, haunts them. What skeletons do have on hangers in their closets. What crosses do they carry. And most importantly, what gives them hope. What they want their life to aspire to.

I carry on these imaginations randomly. A simple scar or tattoo or hat is enough to build a life, enough to fabricate a stranger's past. I write their fictional stories. And I think about the characters. I become the narrator of translation of a mix of dream, fascination, curiosity, and amusement. Some people become exemplars while others lie in the numerous shades of gray.

And I think of their motives. Their plan. Their mission. I wonder what life means to them because it helps me find my own answer, or at least come closer to one.

I think some may call this 'people watching'. But I don't know if it's quite the same as that. The point is not to judge or mock but to recognize certain values people have and wonder what compels them to do believe them. Why will someone smile at a stranger? Why will someone sit in the park all day just to watch the birds? What do they see? What beauty have they found? What pain have they felt? What causes that smile? What allows that contentment?

Of course, these are fabricated tales. The process is just working backwards to the beginning to find some unlearned life lesson that you, the author, have created. Then you think, "Hey I wonder who's writing my story, my alternative life, my lesson."