So when I flew from Beijing to Shanghai, it was a late flight and I was alone. I get in the taxi line and I notice that it is mainly single 20 – 30 men, probably working in one city or the other. And I think, they must be lonely doing this all the time.
.
Then I notice that in the taxi line, very very often one man gets a light from his cigarette from another guy. Most people would dismiss this trivia, but – as I have time on my hands waiting for the taxi – other thoughts race through my head.
.
Perhaps it is a way of reaching out to one another in these stiflingly large and impersonal cities. Maybe just the simple human act of offering and accepting a light gives them a touch of humanity – a common bond here far from home.
.
And I see this action as touching, as a men reaching for human contact way out here. I think, me and myself, how cool it is to witness this.
.
Then..
.
I remember that at the airport they confiscated all the lighters and matches. D’oh! And now I just want my own damn taxi to come.