Your Turn Challenge Day 6

Write about a time when you surprised yourself?

A Man stands in a city street; banging the top of a litter bin whilst chanting in a Rastafarian fashion ‘This town is great!’

In another town, a man in his 50’s regularly attends a nightclub where the music is blasting out; he sits in solitude and reads a novel, whilst men flirt with girls who dance in unflattering dresses.

In a coastal-based town, another man attends theatre shows on multiple occasions, on his own: all who work there understands his passion for an alternate reality as he soaks up the atmosphere inside the auditorium.

As I stand outside a students union with my friend, he points to an oak tree that has been paved around by the side of the road, and observes how it has been there before any of this concrete existed.

A councillor I meet for the first time at a pub explains to me the pride he holds in his job and that because of his duty, people can walk home safe at night, but laments at how nobody appreciates it.

Then all of a sudden, after reading short stories of an author during the day, it came to my mind whilst talking to this man to ask myself, ‘What would Chekov make of this guy?’

I really surprised myself that I asked such a question, but it really aided me in observing what this intelligent man was saying and why he was saying it. My thoughts before were that councillors are generally inept at their job, but here I am standing opposite one of them, having one of the most insightful conversations I had had in the past few months.

The reason I asked that question though albeit subconsciously is because of one simple reason, I decided to invest my time reading and exploring the minds of brilliant artists and writers who observe things that others don’t see, in an attempt to do the same things myself.

Every day, it is easy for us humans to become trapped in our own bubble, riddled with pride, entertaining our minds with trivial nonsense and be hasty to assume and judge others. I think it is important to get in the habit of forcing ourselves at least once a day to shift the looking glass so that we can observe something or someone without our judgement, preconceptions or non-confirmation bias.

Each town, city and village has its quirks, it’s charms and it’s repulsions, but the people there are what make it. It has come to truly fascinate me how the aesthetic of each town is built by such intricate details and characters. The people described above may appear to most as crazy, but in reality they are no different than the rest of us in what makes us human. The more I explore the minds of great writers such as Chekov, the more I realise for myself that life truly is a wondrous thing.

I sit in a café, looking out the window as people pass by rushing to and from places. The clouds gather and a heavy rainfall starts for a brief spell and then subsides to a ray of sunlight. For ten seconds…the street is clear and there is strange but peaceful stillness.