sonder (n.) - the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid
and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines,
worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around
you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to
thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might
appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of
traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.
I usually get this feeling at
airports. When everyone's in a rush, catching flights, going to their loved
ones, leaving their loved ones. Going away to make new memories, leaving behind
the old ones. What's the story of that girl sitting by the window? What's her
name? What's she going through? What makes her feel alive? Or that man, waiting
for his coffee. Is he returning home to his wife? Or is he going home to an
empty apartment? What if the person I see sitting in seat 38 A could
have been my closest friend if the circumstances were different and I could
have meet them? To me, it’s
incredible. That we are all wrapped in countless stories and that there's so
much more to us than what we let passersby see. If you think about it, how many
strangers have taken photos with you in the background? When you are crossing a
busy road, cycling by or talking on the phone. How many strangers appear in
your photos? And you’ll never know their triumphs, failures, what makes them
smile.
What do you
think about the word sonder? Do you
ever think about other people’s stories?
