An Affair of the Heart

Chapter 6: People-Watching

People watching is one of my favorite things to do, especially when I am on travel in another city. This activity helped me pass the time as I nervously waited for Alex to arrive at our meeting place at the Metro station. A high level of energy pulsates through Washington, DC because like most big cities, it never sleeps. The streets bustle with people rushing along, filling the sidewalks, in a great hurry to get to wherever they are going.

Young professionals stride purposefully down the busy sidewalk. Many might be fresh out of graduate school, wearing an air of youthful optimism and self-importance. Young women dressed "to the nines" in Ralph Lauren or Tory Burch separates, wearing Christian Louboutin shoes, and carrying expensive Coach bags. I wondered how they could afford such expensive designer clothes. Did they spend all of their graduation gift money buying a power wardrobe? Did they come from a wealthy family? Or perhaps their mothers treated them to a few days of shopping to celebrate their college graduation and their first real job in the working world.

Young millennial males walked by, all "duded-up" in Tom Ford suits, wearing Roberto Cavalli sunglasses, carrying Hartmann leather portfolios, cell phone earbuds firmly in place. So confident, so earnest, so determined and full of purpose. I wondered how long it would take for the perceived glamour of their first job to wear off? Soon enough, I thought, they will come face-to-face with the reality of the everyday routine of the working class. Long hours, low pay, monthly bills, fitting in a social life or a love life. Trying to "make it" in their chosen career field just like the rest of the world.

Passing by on the sidewalk is a very serious-looking man who looks like the academic type. Horn-rimmed glasses, bow tie, and a tweed jacket with suede elbow patches completed the picture of the absent-minded professor. Tucked under his arm is a well-worn leather briefcase. Maybe it is filled with student papers to be graded, or applications to be filed for a new research grant. Or perhaps he is on his way to Capitol Hill, to deliver the results of a study commissioned by a Congressional Committee of some sort.

Mixed into the city's population are the blue-collar, salt-of-the-earth workers and laborers who keep the whole damned opera from falling apart. Bus drivers, utility crews, restaurant cooks and waiters, hotel maids, construction workers, policemen, firemen, garbage collectors, and street sweepers. These ordinary people are the underlying foundation of the social strata. Their daily labor at the menial tasks of life keeps a huge city operating and functional. How much do we take them for granted?

Then there are always the unusual characters in any large metropolis where the population is a potpourri of diverse ethnic groups. Each person has some backstory, some unique history of how and why they came to be here at this time, in this particular city. I'm sure the probabilities are high that many are the second, third, and even fourth generation of grandparents or great-grandparents who came through New York City's Ellis Island as immigrants to America. Parts of that family tree eventually migrated to other parts of the country, going as far as the West Coast to pursue dreams of a new life.

I watched as an old and very small Oriental woman shuffled slowly down the sidewalk. She was bent over with the weight of the heavy shopping bags she carried in each hand. I wondered what treasures are inside those bags? Do they contain Jasmine Rice, green tea, Chinese vegetables, or some exotic Oriental fruit I have never heard of? What have her tired eyes seen? What burdens does she carry in her heart that no one sees? I felt very curious to know the story of her life.

Briskly striding past me walks an Indian Sikh with dark skin and a well-trimmed beard. His head is dramatically, tightly wrapped in a vibrant cloth of brilliant saffron yellow. According to their beliefs, a Sikh must balance work, worship, and charity. They are to defend the rights of all creatures, particularly their fellow human beings. I wonder what his experience has been as he tries to apply this philosophy to life in the United States? Is he discriminated against? Or have others been tolerant and respectful of the differences in his philosophy of life?

A pretty Latina holds a young pre-school boy and girl by the hand, walking her children down the stairs into the Metro to take her little ones home from their babysitter. She is tired after spending an overnight shift cleaning bathrooms and changing beds in a downtown DC hotel. When they arrive at their small apartment miles away, she will begin her second, full-time job of the day. A single mother with no support from the father of her children, she must play many different roles. The sole breadwinner for her young family, she is the financial provider, the cook and housekeeper, the caregiver and storyteller. The whole world to her young children.

The streets of Washington buzz and hum around me with the sounds of many languages. A modern-day Tower of Babel. When I can be part of this dynamic city for even a few days, it is easy to get caught up in its energy.