Traveling anywhere in the holiday season brings this fact to the fore. Airports, railway stations, bus stops, freeways — every place is packed with people, more people and more and more people. It was faintly unnerving at times to see this many people out in the world, all seemingly busy doing their many things. How many of them thought deeply, what did they do to occupy themselves, earn a living, attend to their loved ones?
How many of them were loving and giving, and how many selfish and cruel? That feeling of realizing the sentience of our fellow beings can be especially acute when traveling in crowded places.
There is a beautiful word for it: sonder. But wherever you were: one thing was apparent. Business was thriving. Clothing stores, eateries, perfumeries, jewelry stores — they dotted every city, country and airport. One time, I remember gazing out the window as we rode from one end to the diagonally opposite end of the city, and seeing shops after shops after shops.
There was an apparent unending need for clothing and electronics, for consumption. One cannot help wondering about the ecological impact of all this, but there you are. Maybe the next wave of innovations will be in making biodegradable plastics, electronics and clothing.
After all, the waste that we are generating now can hardly be a scalable problem. Even as I gazed out through the window taking in the local sights though, one thing sent a pang through me: the lack of bookstores anywhere was truly tragic.
