nothing's bigger than love

i hear a lot of people say they're traveling to "discover what they're looking for", "learn what they want in life", "find themselves", whatever. it was hard for me to hide my skepticism when i heard this, because for a long time i thought that there was no need to relocate yourself halfway around the world to discover what you like and don't like. i figured hey, if you don't like olives in the usa, you're probably not going to like olives in asia.  just because you're in europe doesn't mean you're going to appreciate modern art if you couldn't stand it in brazil, and spending time in jerusalem isn't going to just suddenly make you religious.

i still believe we are essentially the same individual regardless of where we are. our core, our wants and needs aren't going to just magically transform overnight. i'm still not convinced that planting oneself in a different environment is going to cause you to discover the meaning of life, but i finally better understand the 'learning about oneself' part of traveling. i still don't like olives, but i've been learning things about myself that i probably wouldn't have learned this semester had i stayed in hawaii.

for example, today i learned that i am absolutely fascinated by the subway system.

okay, i know. there's a lot of things that i find fascinating, like fishtail braids, well done collages, and the way our voices travel through one phone to another. i also know this isn't a groundbreaking discovery and i would've been just fine going through the rest of my life without this knowledge. in fact, there's millions of people who have never and will never travel on a subway and it's not going to affect them at all, even a little bit.

but it's not the subway itself that i find fascinating. i don't really care how or why it works. as long as it gets me from where i am to where i need to be, we're good. if it gets me there on time, we're even better.

it's the people on the subway fascinate me. the way that everyone comes together from different parts of the city, the way that they're all trying to get somewhere...the way the majority forgets we're all human, the way so many people tend to leave their hearts outside the station.

there was a man who came onto the subway with his accordion keyboard and started to play. the second he started playing, everyone looked up and exchanged those glances, those 'what's-he-doing' looks of disapproval. i was about to do the same, but then i looked at him and changed my mind. he wasn't a great accordion keyboard player, not that i would be able to tell if he was, but he was happy. he enjoyed the music. after a few minutes people got used to it, and it was alright. everyone went back to sitting in silence, staring at their shoes, avoiding eye contact, staring out the window into the dark tunnel.

after a few stops, a man - i would call him a gentleman, but he was far from it - stood up and yelled at the accordion playing man. i've only had a few german courses and we didn't learn the colourful words he was shouting, but it was something along the lines of stop.

the poor man, bless his heart, put down his accordion and stopped playing, and it absolutely broke my heart. i know he was playing to make some extra change, not just because he wanted to make everyone's day better; i'm not that naive. but there was absolutely no reason for this man to speak down to him. what could he possibly be doing in the subway that's so important, and what makes him so mighty that he can tell others what they can and can't do?

i think that taking the subway can be extremely boring. it's silent, eye contact is awkward, it seems that people just pick a spot to stare at and try to permanently engrave it into their memory. what does a little music hurt? who's it hurting?

of course, there's more to it than an accordion playing man. when people exit the train, it's amazing how focused everyone is on their destination, it's as if they forgot all the manners they have outside of the subway. all of a sudden, it's not important to be polite. "excuse me" is a foreign language and i swear some people are convinced it's the end of the world if someone gets on the escalator before them. it's a little sad.

slow down, we're all human. wouldn't it be beautiful if we could remember that all the time, not just when it was convenient for us? and please, let that man play his accordion keyboard.

you better slow down, don't dance so fast.

time is short, the music won't last.

when you run so fast to get somewhere,

you miss half the fun of getting there.

when you worry and hurry through your day,

it's like an unopened gift thrown away.

life isn't a race, do take it slower,

hear the music, before your song is over.

-david l. weatherford