It was bright and smoggy as I wound through the backstreets of Beijing's historical district, the HuTongs. Littered with red gates, exposed rebar and cement walls this is the place people to to get a 'real look' at life. JC had arrived two days earlier and emailed through directions so I wouldn't get terribly lost.
Picking my way through the construction rubble I approached a fairly non-descript wooden door. I double-checked the house number and just as I was about to ring the bell, the door swung open. JC's smiling face greeted me, he was just on his way out for a wander.
Seeing a familiar face so far away from home is always a strange kind of comfort. It starts with a little tingle in my stomach and moved up through my chest until it hits my face and comes out as a beaming smile. And this particular face was one I never dreamed I'd see outside of the US.
After I put my things in the room and had a shower, we buddied up with two Swedes and spent a few days exploring a ctiy that I had passing familiarity with and that none of the boys had been to before. It gave me the chance to see Beijing again for the first time.
Within the first day JC said something that has stuck with me throughout the years. We had been talking about his first take on Beijing. He was walking out of the subway early after his arrival, seeing people bustling about on the streets and it hit him.
"I realized that there are all these people, just getting on in their lives, and I had never thought about them before."
On the surface, it seems like such an obvious thing to say, to the point where it seems a bit daft, but the more I think about it, the more I internalize it. I'm going through some strange growing pains as I depart further from my marriage and take steps forward in other relationships, both with friends and family and romantically.
There are billions of people in this world I'll never interact with, although our lives may distantly impact each others, and it won't matter. It seems a bit defeatist to look at it that way, but that's not how I mean it to be. It's a way to remind myself that I strive to impact people in a real and positive way when possible. It's a way to remember that I won't get to everyone, or even a considerable fraction of people, so I need to work harder with the lives I know I crash into. It's the best way for me to try to better all the time.
Picking my way through the construction rubble I approached a fairly non-descript wooden door. I double-checked the house number and just as I was about to ring the bell, the door swung open. JC's smiling face greeted me, he was just on his way out for a wander.
Seeing a familiar face so far away from home is always a strange kind of comfort. It starts with a little tingle in my stomach and moved up through my chest until it hits my face and comes out as a beaming smile. And this particular face was one I never dreamed I'd see outside of the US.
After I put my things in the room and had a shower, we buddied up with two Swedes and spent a few days exploring a ctiy that I had passing familiarity with and that none of the boys had been to before. It gave me the chance to see Beijing again for the first time.
Within the first day JC said something that has stuck with me throughout the years. We had been talking about his first take on Beijing. He was walking out of the subway early after his arrival, seeing people bustling about on the streets and it hit him.
"I realized that there are all these people, just getting on in their lives, and I had never thought about them before."
On the surface, it seems like such an obvious thing to say, to the point where it seems a bit daft, but the more I think about it, the more I internalize it. I'm going through some strange growing pains as I depart further from my marriage and take steps forward in other relationships, both with friends and family and romantically.
There are billions of people in this world I'll never interact with, although our lives may distantly impact each others, and it won't matter. It seems a bit defeatist to look at it that way, but that's not how I mean it to be. It's a way to remind myself that I strive to impact people in a real and positive way when possible. It's a way to remember that I won't get to everyone, or even a considerable fraction of people, so I need to work harder with the lives I know I crash into. It's the best way for me to try to better all the time.
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