An Interesting Encounter

I was waiting patiently for my train at the Yonge station, I don’t quite remember if it was to or from Dundas Station (where the Toronto Coach Terminal is located), but what I do remember is something that I will probably remember for the rest of my life.

I always look into the dark tunnel for any sign of the bright subway light. I don’t know why, but it’s a habit. I was thinking of walking over to the other end of the subway when something managed to catch my audible attention. It was a sound of a girl, probably sixteen or seventeen years of age. Judging by the voice, I could tell that it was a bright young girl, one of the people who have nothing to fear, in this world at least, for they have come to terms with the transitory nature of this world.

They realize that they won’t live forever so they lose all their fears and shed all their tears and decide to be different from other people. Some of these people try to make other people happy; happy in the sense that they try to make others think the way they think and make them comfortable with their grievances. I know many such people, possibly because I keep on searching for such people’s company, because I get great hope when I look at them facing misery with a smile and an attitude that makes me envious. Whenever I am in the company of such people I breathe deeply and feel comfort in my heart.

I looked around to see this girl, because I have another bad habit….curiosity, plus I cannot rest till I associate a face with every thing. Anger, love, joy, sadness, grief, misery, success, I need to link a face to everything. When I saw this girl, I was amazed. She had one of the most beautiful faces I have ever seen. I emphasize on the fact that it was something amazing with respect to my frame of reference, because I judge beauty with elements that are sometimes quite different from others’ frame of references.

Although I was at a distance from the girl and my far sight is really poor, I could sense a few things about her beauty. She had a smile on her face, a smile that is more comforting than anything else. She had innocence in her eyes, the kind of innocence that tells you that living in this world she doesn’t care about the cruelty, spite and vindictiveness. Nothing can make her change her innocence, because she believes that there is no excuse for any negative feelings. All people are born innocent, but they soon learn to use negative feelings towards other people for their own good, but on the other side, there are people whose actions are based solely on making other people feel good.

The girl was dragging along a wheelchair in which a lady was comfortably seated. The lady sitting in the wheelchair had dwarfism and her body was malformed in such a way that she almost had no limbs, but I could tell by her face that she was happy in the company of the girl. Along with the girl was a man who was mentally challenged and had an artificial leg. The three of them were having the time of their lives, out for an adventure and putting all their worries behind them. One could easily tell that the source of all the happiness and good spirit was the girl as she was the one providing all the positive energy. Seeing her face was enough to make anyone shed their tears, and the two people were fortunate enough to have her company.

The first though that came to my mind was that she was probably a high school student, volunteering to take her two friends out for an excursion because they were definitely not from her family. The girl was of a different ethnic origin from the other two. But there is something about volunteering that you can tell right away. This girl had way more spirit in her actions and kindness in her attitude to fall in the category of “volunteer” or “help”.

Confused and lost in deep thoughts I boarded the train and to my surprise the three people whom I was just thinking about boarded the same train and were sitting quite close to me. The three of them kept on discussing something, which I couldn’t hear because of the racket the train was making, but it was definitely something cheerful, which could be judged by their faces.

I kept on thinking about the girl, trying to put a story or a background to her when I was one station away from Dundas, yes now I remember, it was indeed towards Dundas. I decided to look at the girl one final time. When I looked at her could not get my eyes off of her. There are many reasons that I can give for not taking my eyes off her but some of them were; amazement, surprise, admiration and……..sorrow.

I noticed that she was blind. As I got off the train, I began to walk towards the exit saying to myself: “She did not have eyes, she did not have vision, she did not have sight.” But then I realized how shallow my thoughts were. She was the one bringing happiness in the lives of those who need it the most. She had come to terms with her loss and had made it into something from which others could benefit and feel comfort from, I know I certainly felt a lot more comforted after just looking at her. What an amazing person she must be that she has etched a place in my memory forever in such a brief encounter.