Crying
I went out walking the other day, seen a little girl crying along the way.
I thought of those lyrics from Two Hearts by Bruce, when I saw a woman sitting at a traffic light, in the car behind mine, crying her eyes out as she talked on the cell phone. The wait on the light was, what, 90 seconds? The woman was a middle-aged lady who seemed completely lost. She shouldn't have even been driving. How do you cry, talk on the phone, and not drive your car into the back of my car?
Of course, she was out of my life in a matter of moments, but I couldn't help but imagine what caused her public sadness. Death of a loved one? Cheating spouse? Forgot to shut off the oven? Can't find the turn signal? Just a crazy woman with a penchant for sadness?
I once interviewed a Chaplin for one of my books. She told me a story about praying whenever she heard the hum of the Mercy Flight helicopter or the sound of an ambulance siren.
There certainly are days when I don't consider the sadness and the heart break of others. Even OJ couldn't be compassionate all the time - one of the radio talk shows always plays a clip of OJ, when being asked about the death of Ron Goldman says, "It happens. People die everyday."
We are all running around chasing our own tails - it is real difficult to feel empathy for each and every person - there are so many friggen' people - but it's weird when you see someone sobbing at a traffic light.
Perhaps they were tears of happiness. Maybe her kid won a gold medal. Perhaps she just heard that her loving husband hit the lottery.
As I drove off down the road, I thought of the rest of the lyrics of Bruce's masterpiece:
Sometimes it might seem like it was planned for you to roam empty-hearted through this land. Though the world turns you hard and cold, there's one thing, mister, that I know and that's if you think your heart is stone and that you're rough enough to whip this world alone - alone buddy there ain't no peace of mind, that's why I'll keep searching until I find, my special one.
I hope that lady found some comfort, not long after I saw her crying.
I thought of those lyrics from Two Hearts by Bruce, when I saw a woman sitting at a traffic light, in the car behind mine, crying her eyes out as she talked on the cell phone. The wait on the light was, what, 90 seconds? The woman was a middle-aged lady who seemed completely lost. She shouldn't have even been driving. How do you cry, talk on the phone, and not drive your car into the back of my car?
Of course, she was out of my life in a matter of moments, but I couldn't help but imagine what caused her public sadness. Death of a loved one? Cheating spouse? Forgot to shut off the oven? Can't find the turn signal? Just a crazy woman with a penchant for sadness?
I once interviewed a Chaplin for one of my books. She told me a story about praying whenever she heard the hum of the Mercy Flight helicopter or the sound of an ambulance siren.
There certainly are days when I don't consider the sadness and the heart break of others. Even OJ couldn't be compassionate all the time - one of the radio talk shows always plays a clip of OJ, when being asked about the death of Ron Goldman says, "It happens. People die everyday."
We are all running around chasing our own tails - it is real difficult to feel empathy for each and every person - there are so many friggen' people - but it's weird when you see someone sobbing at a traffic light.
Perhaps they were tears of happiness. Maybe her kid won a gold medal. Perhaps she just heard that her loving husband hit the lottery.
As I drove off down the road, I thought of the rest of the lyrics of Bruce's masterpiece:
Sometimes it might seem like it was planned for you to roam empty-hearted through this land. Though the world turns you hard and cold, there's one thing, mister, that I know and that's if you think your heart is stone and that you're rough enough to whip this world alone - alone buddy there ain't no peace of mind, that's why I'll keep searching until I find, my special one.
I hope that lady found some comfort, not long after I saw her crying.
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