Have you ever sat in a tube train in the middle of a tunnel during one of those interminable delays, wondering what's happening. Then a rare warm voice crackles into life over the intercom.
He's tells you about the delay. How he's as pissed off as you are. How he too, wants to get home to his missus. He even cracks a joke. Then what happens?
Suddenly the people in the carriage, previously anonymous, light up, smiles soften their faces. The glow of communication courses through the the carriage, like lights flickering on in an Andean landscape after a powercut.
And then anonymity returns. For a brief moment in time we become close, sharing a common communication. Someone put it more eloquently.
"I-thou encounters can be awesome when one is reminded that for a given instant two persons journeying through time at a given moment become close, sharing common communication systems".
He's tells you about the delay. How he's as pissed off as you are. How he too, wants to get home to his missus. He even cracks a joke. Then what happens?
Suddenly the people in the carriage, previously anonymous, light up, smiles soften their faces. The glow of communication courses through the the carriage, like lights flickering on in an Andean landscape after a powercut.
And then anonymity returns. For a brief moment in time we become close, sharing a common communication. Someone put it more eloquently.
"I-thou encounters can be awesome when one is reminded that for a given instant two persons journeying through time at a given moment become close, sharing common communication systems".
2 comments:
Ah the joys of travelling on the tube!
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