Fraction
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
I wrote something as a spur of the moment thing. It did happen and although I think it [essay/snippet/whatchamacallit] is pretty nonsensical, what the heck.
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Fraction of a second
I was sitted comfortably in the taxi, enjoying the blasts from the air-con as I chattered aimlessly with the driver. He was crouching at the back of a truck, exposed to the sweltering heat and humidity. We were at a junction waiting..waiting for that red to dissipate and for that green to appear. Just like magic. My thoughts wandered as I took a quick glance at my surroundings.
Our eyes met for a fraction of a second. Almost instinctively, I turned and looked away. Who was he to me? Noone significant. We had nothing in common at all: I, the Singaporean student; Him, the Bangladeshi foreign worker.
Our eyes met for that fraction of a second. But I looked away without a smile or second thought for he is invisible. The foreign workers are the invisible people. Their invisibility is caused by the ruthless efficiency Singapore demands. A standard of efficiency that in an ironic twist of events, they had helped to create.
Our eyes only met for a fraction of a second. But he is not a nobody. He is a somebody. Somebody who has dreams and ambitions he gave up to travel to a foreign country alone in the hopes of having a better life. If we were born under different stars, under different circumstances or in different countries, I could easily be him and he could easily be me in return.
We couldn't be anymore different, we couldn't be anymore the same.
Our eyes met for all of that fraction of a second. A single wisp of thread woven into the Tapestry of Time for all eternity. I had looked away but when the brunt of the situation and the extent of my indulgent selfishness hit me, I wanted to look back at him. Those eyes that had connected with mine for that one moment. But the magic occurred. Red turned to green in a split second and all the vehicles were moving. I tried to turn, to look at him, but the truck was gone. The truck was gone but my shame lingered for I looked away after that fraction of a second.
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aureliaz out
@ |1:57 PM|
