Upon every Passenger that comes my way rests the weight of a wish borne. Some carry with them, over oceans and continents, desires they have nurtured – sometimes unconsciously – from infancy. Yet they must upon a time bear fruit. If I were to consider every one a book, rich would be the language that riddled their many pages with tales of many tails. And yet we say to one another “Good day”, “What can I do for you?”, “Just a second”, and things like that as we drown our entire humanity and history in silence during a moment of business service or corporate interaction.
But once in a while one will come my way who looks into my eyes as though we were both human and, as we address the issue of his baggage, his ticket, his itinerary or some other such stuff, we talk about music, the arts, sports, history, headline news, but never in detail of course about politics or religion. We don’t have to anyway. Little things show one already where and how each person stands.
And then the day will pass and many other customers will come and go, and nothing wrong or below standard will be said or done, but only that one customer will remain in your memory who spoke to you about music, literature, the arts, sports, his family, your history, some headline news, but never in detail of course about politics or religion. It wasn’t necessary. Little things leave the biggest impression.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.