I'm on the train and looking around at the faces. One man is slack-jawed sleeping. One I can't see but I can smell...tussin, alcohol, cologne? There's the guy whose girth takes up several seats and the thin one in athletic attire who peeps a seat and sits quickly. There's the one whose face is stony. I spy a sleeping mailman with fleshy face and bulbous nose. Cuteish guy with bike and cool sneakers, wet hair and a blue sweatband keeping salty perspiration out of his eyes. The woman with super straight shiny weave tracks mixed in with her own. Face serious, not stressed. Headphones in. Dark lipstick and polish. And then there's the one woman with her hair pulled up in a bun on what must be the top of her head from her perspective. Jeans, flats, hoodie, striped knit shirt and not distinctive at all except for one quality. She has a slight smile on her face at 6:15 am.
I'm reminded of the way that we notice what we see. I see a lot of faces, but her smile is to remind me that I might also shift someone's day with the same gesture. There may only be one smile for every ten faces but that one is the one I'm looking for today. One in ten is a game changer.
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