Laughter

I both love and greatly dislike the city. Three days ago my mom and I took a little trip up to Seattle. I had some testing to do to help steer me in hopefully a more accurate direction of what career I should take. The testing center was on the 9th floor of a historical skyscraper, Hoge Building, on 2nd Avenue in downtown Seattle. While taking my tests, I heard all sorts of sounds that can only come from being smack-dab in the middle of a city: sirens, cars whizzing by, horns, the air pressure squealing from bus brakes... My imagination gets fired up with all the possibilities and situations those sounds could be creating! A place full of curiosity! That's one reason I love the city.

Ok, I know this photo has nothing to do with the city, but it does! So, just go with me here. The photo was taken in Walla Walla, so yeah, really far from the city! Candid photos are so much fun to take and rare to have around. It always captures the mood of the group and day. You can never pose a candid picture, the opportunity is only presented to you in that split-second moment. But take just a moment and look at the faces of the people in this picture. Soak in their smiles and maybe if you close your eyes you can hear their laughter.

Laughter. That is something I have never heard on a city street. Interesting is it not that you can hear so much else there, but not the joy of laughter. Why is that? Does the other noise around us just drown it out? Or are we caught up in the motion of the next deadline or catching the next bus to not stop and smile or listen long enough to hear it if it does exist at all?

While walking through Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle with my mom a lady approached us and asked if we had any change to spare. We did not, so we moved on, but looking around at the people who were crossing the crosswalk with us with their heads bent low made me feel sad. There is no laughter on the city street, but what if there could be?

The city. A place so densely filled with people, yet so lonely to most. What would happen if we just took the time to laugh?