This evening I had cause to smile at the end of the day. The smile “prompt” came in the form of two small girls with their father at the railway station before mine. They were sitting on a fence, held secure by their father, and they were waving and smiling as if their lives depended on it. For the 30 seconds or so it took for the doors to open and a few passengers to alight, the children were reaching into the draughty, slightly smelly carriage with the fragrance and warmth of their guileless grins.
After we had passed by, I started to wonder why it is we wave at trains when we are children. Is it a competition to see how many strangers will wave back? Is it the joy in the expression of an adult caught off guard for a brief moment?
I suspect that we all just need to connect. In our deepest being, we don’t want to be alone and watch a train go by without connecting with one of the neutral expressions in the carriage. For a split second, there is a life change, a thought is paused, a worry halted, a frustration shelved, and the smile shatters the gloom. There is anonymity in the abandon. We will never meet, you will never know my name, but I can go wild and be pleased to see you, and if you are quick enough, you might be wild back.
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