It Is All How You See It

I was driving down Gough Street in San Francisco.  It is a one-way street that leads to the 101 freeway.  It is always crowded with people jockeying for position as they try to get one car closer to their destination only to be blocked by someone double parked or a UPS truck.  It is a street you just want to get to the end as fast as you can and pretend you won’t have to do it again.  But of course, you will be on this road again.  Every time you are on the road your focus is on the car in front of you because there is no end to the cars in front of you.  The side of the road is a blur of unrecognizable stores or restaurants that you will never enter and thus you pay no attention.  They do not exist.  All you see is the car in front of you and the unending line of cars in front of you.

I was on this road the other day focused on the car in front of me. The next light turned red.  It was no different than the light behind me nor the lights ahead of me. Therefore, there was no reason to pay attention except to obey.  Tired of the car in front of me I looked to my left.  I became focused, not on the car in front but of the four people on the sidewalk. 

They appeared out of context with the street scene which was just passing through in every sense.  No one stays on this street. Except for this group.

A mother, a father, a grandmother and a little boy.  The little boy was two or three.  Walking, but not with complete confidence.  His adult protectors were totally focused on him.  They did not see the traffic, the car in front, the stores, the restaurants – nothing but this little boy.  They were content and happy.

The little boy was aware that he was the center of the world as the only people that he cared about were totally focused on him.  He was smiling, demonstrating his ability to walk, bouncing from side to side like a pin ball.  At that moment and for the moments that I watched his world was comprised of three adults and their world was this little boy.  Nothing – no traffic, not the weather, not the seedy nature of the neighborhood nothing mattered to them because….

They had it all.  They did not need anything more -- not a boat, a car, a fancy restaurant – nothing.  They had it all and they were all happy in a world that they defined.  The little boy was the happiest of them all.  All that he cared for and loved were in his orbit and he was the center.  For that moment no matter how you define your perfect place they were in that place.  It was their perfect place…defined by them

Happiness is perspective and in the end it is your perspective….

…. The car in front of me? What car?