The Space Between Us
I was waiting for the subway this morning, wedged between a man reading a thick paperback and a woman checking her watch every ten seconds. We were all so close that I could smell the coffee on their breath, yet we were worlds apart. Nobody looked up. Nobody made a sound. It is strange how we spend our entire lives surrounded by people, moving through the same streets and sitting in the same rooms, yet we remain islands. We walk past thousands of faces, catching only the briefest glimpse of a coat or a pair of eyes before they vanish into the crowd forever. I wonder if we are all just waiting for someone to notice the specific way we stand, or the way we carry our own quiet stories through the noise. Does it make us lonelier to be alone, or is there a strange comfort in knowing that everyone else is just as solitary as we are?
Mohammad Saiful Islam captured this feeling perfectly in his work titled One Stranger. It reminds me that even in the middle of a busy city, we are all just passing through each other’s lives. Does this image make you feel lonely, or does it feel like a peaceful moment of connection?
