Moving About In A Sea Of Strangers




Being ordinary is immensely beautiful and full of bliss; it's beyond our imagination.

Moving around a place filled with strangers can be fun and entertaining.

And that is why so many of us quietly move to distant or remote places to enjoy mother nature with its landscapes, mountains, rivers, sunsets, lakes, cliffs, flowers and animals.

And so many spend our leisure times busy walking around shopping malls, restaurants, boutiques or other points of interest, frenziedly spending money.

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All of us are busy with our own lives, ever keeping pace with our desire and expectation, and always thinking of leaving our footprints and fingerprints everywhere for others to follow when we are gone.

Everyone is preoccupied, concentrating on what they enjoy knowing, thinking, perceiving, doing, valuing, seeing, reading, watching, wanting, reviewing, desiring, loving.......

No one seems to care about others' presence or absence, movements or actions, sayings or doings, shouting or screaming, crying or laughing.......

Everyone is a stranger to one another.

No one seems to mind if we talk, mumble, grumble, smile, laugh, whistle, cry or scream......

No one wants to care if we make a little more noise, try to whistle through broken front teeth, blow air bubbles, sing a little sunshine song or hum a sad sad tune......

Everyone has their own agendas and key priorities.

And so everyone moves, has their being, and has a great time with their own life.

Happiness is not measured by how much we have got, but how much we can enjoy what we have.

It really doesn't matter how much we have to live well, but rather what we do well while we are still alive.

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Chinese New Year 2010 was around the corner.

My family and I were happily shopping in a city hypermarket.

There was an ocean of people, squeezing, pushing, standing, shouting to one another over their shopping lists.......

And the children with their usual games, plays, and amusements.......

Goods of all kinds, shapes, types, sizes, and varieties were stacking up high and low, over the entire surface of the floors.

I was slowly following my wife and my youngest daughter, pulling and pushing the trolley to maneuver my way through thick traffic faster.

More and more goods were stacked up in the trolley.......Shopping was relatively smooth and easy today.

I was happily smiling away, hoping to get away from it soon.

But then I realized something strange - I had not spoken to anyone, except for occasionally discussions with my wife and daughter over the choice of goods we had bought.... Yah, not even a simple nod, a business smile, some common gestures or a shaking of the head to anyone around........

But it seemed so peaceful, so rested, so blissfully unaware, so undisturbed and pure........

Everything seemed so wonderfully smooth, sweet and exciting.

No one seemed to know my present, not even among those I knew very well and had a long chatting history.

Everyone was busy shopping with their family for the coming festival.

Everyone was having a long list of items of things to buy..... scouting and walking around the racks and shelves...... looking up and down, high and low....... sometimes stooping, bending, squatting and kneeling... frenziedly searching for the things they direly needed.

And so here I was, in a sea of strangers.......

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And that is the joy inexpressible, inconceivable, indescribable, and unforgettable.......

....Moving about in a sea of strangers.

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