AN ODE TO STRANGERS IN PUBLIC PLACES

(a flower i bought at the local market, after i feel in love with some strangers)

I don't think I have ever been in love. Sure, I've had crushes and all, but actual love? It's still a no from
me. The funny thing is, I fall in love all the time. Or more precisely, I keep falling in love with every stranger I see.

A soft, glowing girl in the train. An old couple holding hands in silence in a restaurant. A boy running a hand through his uncombed, salty hair after a swim at the beach. A group of friends walking around, laughing. A middle-aged man leaning against the door of a club, lighting a cigarette. An old lady selling fruit at the local market.

And whenever I see these people - and I fall in love with them - I remain amazed by how much beauty a human can have. Yes, all nature is extraordinarily breath-taking (flowers stay among the list of things I like the most on planet earth), but have you ever seen something so imperfectly beautiful that it almost makes you tear up? That's how I feel about these strangers. It's weird, I never get this feeling about the people I actually know. I suppose it's because these strangers are, perhaps, blank sheets, I don't know their flaws, nor their qualities, so I can make them up to be whoever I want them to be. Sort of like writing about a new character for the first time.

And it's funny, I never thought I'd be this fascinated with people, regular people, people I see for no
more than 2-3 minutes. I used to say I didn't like humans, that I'd much rather live alone in an isolated
chalet in the countryside, away from the mess people make. But truth being told, I don't think I could
do it. Falling in love with strangers is just something that is part of me, I imagine, one of those habits I
do without even noticing. And when you're isolated, there are not a lot of strangers to fall in love with,
are they?

So, to the strangers I've ever crossed paths with - the ones I remember, the ones I don't, the ones that
appear in my dreams without me recognizing them - just know that I was in love with you once. I might
have forgotten about you know, but in that brief moment in a coffeeshop, or in the metro, or in a thrift
shop, or even at school, you were what made my day brighter, and for that I'm forever thankful.