Cultural traditions.

Recently, I've been noticing some phenomenon that happen in our daily lives that often become mundane activities that everyone does, but that have much more depth to them once you stop and reflect on it. These suddenly stand out to me.

One of these is waiting for the bus. Most of the time, I'm the one waiting for the bus, so I'm the one fulfilling that role. But it's not often that I pay attention to other people waiting for the bus, while I'm on the bus itself. I realized this when through the bus window, I see a person standing at the bus stop, patiently waiting for it's arrival, but having to wait due to a red light. I'm sitting on this bus that's stopped at a red light 20 ft away from the passenger waiting, and there now exists this semi-awkward waiting period, where you know the bus is right there. It's so close, yet so far away, almost as if there is a connection that exists now between the bus and this passenger. And at the same time, a question begs to be asked: "Will the bus driver stop for the waiting passenger?" Due to many reasons, the answer to that question would be no. The bus could be full; the driver could be having a bad day; it might be a Limited bus that doesn't stop there. This all just adds to the tension that's created in that minute of the red light status.

Another example is seeing freshmen move in and go through orientation. This is something that I've already been through myself, so I'm able to relate to them and their experiences. But at the same time, I know I'm in a different situation in life now, and I can look at them and laugh a little bit because it's cute to see them be so innocent and new and lost. The experience of parents sending their high school graduate off to college, the child that they have invested so much in and have had to take care of for 18 years.

Watching through my window on the 3rd floor, I can clearly see the back door of my building where a constant stream of cars and vans are parked to unload their child and his/her college junk. Parents sacrificing themselves and their health just to make sure all their child's heavy boxes and mini-fridges and other useless stuff can get up to their room safely, and be neatly stowed away in the semi-adequate dressers and closets that the University provides to students. All because of their mixture of unconditional love, desire for their child's wellbeing in hopes of their success, and their feelings of unease and uncertainty of letting their child go to be independent and live on their own in a completely new environment. So of course the parents want to inspect their dormitories and their rooms to see what kind of a secure, weather-proof and insulated four walls their beloved offspring will be hopefully surviving and studying hard to be successful.

It's just very interesting to observe these types of events that happen on a very frequent basis that we often overlook, or treat as just "another one of those things". Take a look around you, and observe the things that happen in your daily life, and let it speak to you.