Sunday, September 13, 2015

A boy on a train


On the way home from the airport yesterday, on the train there was a sweet little boy who was enamoured with the train. He would sit with his forearms held together, mimicking the closed doors of the train, and when the train pulled into a station, he would echo the recorded train-station voice (once he said 'hahaher' instead of 'lavender', bless him) and then, forehead screwed up in concentration, separate his forearms as the doors opened.

'Please Mind the Gap!' he would say with glee at every station.

'dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee deeeeeee' he would say as the doors opened with their accompanying beeps.

His mother occasionally tried to shush him, and his enthusiasm would abate - until 'next station, bugis' was broadcasted, and then up went his arms, in anticipation for the doors.

When I've seen his same behaviour in adults on the train, my subconscious immediately thinks that they have a mental slowness or syndrome. But what if they are a fortunate few who have somehow not lost the constant wonder of a child at the mundane?

"To children, the world and everything in it is new, something that gives rise to astonishment. It is not like that for adults. Most adults accept the world as a matter of course.' - Sophie's World

(Am I an adult? I don't even know. )

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