Little did I know how much this picture would make me ponder while editing it, when I was just sitting there in Grand Central Station, waiting for my time exposure shot to be done. As I had a closer look at the picture I slowly realized, that this could be a way to picture our life as a whole.

Just imagine that you are a big station concourse. The only things that matter there are time and the people that you meet there. Some are just passing by, fast as a shooting star, but they can still have an impact that blurs and fades away very slowly. A glance. A smile on a dreary monday morning. These things can change our mood and therefore our whole day. Maybe you’ll meet your future boss that day and because you’re thinking of your earlier encounter you appear relaxed and friendly. One single moment blurs with time, but its impact can accompany for years to come, maybe even for your whole life.

There are those people, who stick with you for such a long time, that their outlines are sharp as a blade. They build the very foundations of your life – family, friends, lovers. These are ususally just a few. Then there are also those in your life who stay long enough to fill your concourse with colours and life. Some appear with a loud bang and they leave just as unexpectedly.  Others you may have known for your whole life; they stop at different locations in your concourse and take a break here and there. You can see them quite clearly in some spots, there are some places that they never reach and sometimes they seem like a rush of colours flying by.

All these people, no matter how colourful or blurred, have an impact on you, your life, your personality, whether you are aware of that in the moment of your encounter or not. Reversing this thought it becomes apparent, that you are present in hundreds of concourses. The old lady that you let go first at the supermarket check-out. The passenger that you ran into and left standing there without saying sorry, because you are having a bad day. A child. Your friends. Class mates, colleagues and passing acquaintances.

We can’t always have a good impact, that seems humanly impossible to me. Nobody is just good. But if we’re in a good mood anyway why not taking the time to smile at the people we meet? Maybe we can leave an unmeasurable impression on a person’s life, that neither we, or he, or she will ever realized. That would be quite something, right?

Conclusion: just smile. Doesn’t even hurt.
Promise.

XOXO

Sarah