Day 271 - Connection

Thought of the day: This afternoon, I watched a young woman conversing with an elderly woman in a cafe.  Judging from their appearances, they must be at least two generations apart. The young woman was describing her summer experiences and her plans in a lively and animated manner, while the older woman was listening intentively and occasionally injecting her comments in a soft voice. They were both fully absorbed in the conversation.  It was fascinating to watch as you don't see this taking place very often.  The Americans, for the most part, tend to socialize with people of similar ages.  Kids play with same age kids, young mothers socialize with young mothers, and the retirees tend to keep to each other.  It's not surprising that people at the similar stage of life would find the companionship of each other both convenient and comforting, as they do similar things and face similar challenges.  However, regardless of the age difference, we often have more in common than not.  In fact, precisely because we are at different stages of life, we have a lot to share with and learn from each other.  It's a pity that people don't socialize more across the age boundaries. We can easily become the prisoners of our age, profession, race, social status and an assortment of other things that made up our identity. Watching the exchanges between these two women in the cafe reminded me of what we have to lose when we willingly imprison ourselves in our daily lives instead of reaching out to people who are "not like us".

Photo of the day:

Zhou Mama carrying a patron's baby girl in her arms, while the three women in "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman" watched on.  There is a harmony and connection displayed in this photo that is easier to sense than to describe.