So even today I am walking down the street leading from my house and everything seems a little different to me. It's eight o'clock in the morning and most people go to work. Right on the corner of my house I meet my friend M. with whom we only know by sight. He is playing a song on his guitar that he learned when he was young and the smiles on his face prove that he really loves it. In addition, he gives passers-by information about the guitar made by his friend. He says it is very pleasant to play it and actually it is still for sale. I'm not so interested in the performance of the acquaintance M. but the nice sound and description of the guitar made me think about buying it. A crowd of people is already gathering around M. congratulating him on his performance and embracing him with the best praise. The discussion is starting to come full speed but I can't stay long and so I continue down the street.
I started to think about the new guitar but at the moment my thoughts are being interrupted by A. staggering down the street with two friends after a sleepless night, probably full of alcohol. In fact, the group is just recalling their youthful excesses and shows the people around them how they were going home drunkenly at the time. Everyone is laughing, not mocking them but having fun together. Even A. is showing no signs of shame, on the contrary, he is bragging about his past with laughter and revealing to everyone the details of his riots from adolescence. The reactions of passers-by are positive and A. is enjoying the popularity of his stories.
I'd rather go further to get to work on time. As I am walking, I notice a poster highlighting the evening show in my favorite club. Great, I almost forgot I wanted to go somewhere today. Recently it's been happening to me more and more that I forget things. But there is always someone or something to remind me of this important information. It seems to me that maybe I'm a little lazier and I'm just throwing a lot of things out of my head. Why keeping them there when you can just look outside. The good word spreads if you want it or not and as long as I stay in touch with the street and the people, I will not miss anything. I almost forgot that it was necessary to pay for the evening event, the poster reminded me several times.
Nowadays I meet my acquaintances without even saying hi. Usually I don't have time for such courtesies. Even now, my attention was drawn to a new large screen with the words Amazing!!! There is a live broadcast of the monster truck race at a stadium in the USA. I'm not a big fan of these vehicles but people's reactions and attractive slogans have convinced me to stop for a moment and watch the destruction of the wrecks of old cars. I can't help but contribute with my comment to a discussion full of admiration and intelligent jokes. After a while, I look at the clock and realize that I spent more time here than I originally intended.
Once I go on, I hear someone cursing. Sharp words are uttered by my friend J. and directed to the representatives of a political party. There has been a case of embezzlement of state money, for which they are probably responsible. More people are gathering here and a sharp debate is beginning. Obviously, not everyone has the same opinion as J. and the group of newcomers is beginning to blame the opposition. Scurrility is multiplying and the original verbal attack on politicians turns into a skirmish among the debaters. The subject of the debate is moving on and the original topic has probably been forgotten. Some members of the discussion are expressing their disagreement with the current situation loudly and are labeling others pejoratively with terms which meanings are probably not entirely clear to them. However, their well-founded interpretation has attracted the attention of many people who are responding by expressing their sympathies and consent. At first, I'm a little shocked by the clumsy behavior, but I'm reassured by the idea that there is a freedom of speech and everyone can express their opinions without restriction.
I did not join the discussion to avoid conflict. I prefer to go further and follow people's stories. I find out who ate what, how my friends enjoy their perfect life, or what kind of demanding and respectable things they have achieved. For their sincerity they deserve appropriate reactions which further increase their popularity.
It was always kind of unnatural to me to show people ordinary things from my privacy, unless they were my closest friends to whom I could reveal my secrets and I had a guarantee that they would not divulge them to anyone. Today, people seem to trust each other more, but paradoxically, the word friend no longer has such a clear meaning. What lies behind the whole ideal world, smiles, casual expressions of love, or bold outbursts of hatred?
And so I am walking around thinking about the lives of passers-by and watching what is happening on the street, when suddenly the question arises in my head: Where is the street actually going? I have never thought about it and I have never been at the end of it. I've been quite far away, walking for about half an hour, but it still seemed to lengthen and new horizons were emerging, new and sometimes the same people I had already met that day were appearing. Strange. Besides, I felt like someone was constantly watching me. From the windows of buildings or directly on the street. Not to mention that everyone knows when I tell someone something. In a mysterious way, nothing stays hidden here. After all, gossip often comes to me. Many times it's, as if by chance, information about the people I'm thinking about at the moment.
However, I forget these strange ideas even before I can think about them more deeply. I look at the clock and see that it is time to go. Time to wake up from a dream. Time to turn off the internet connection. Time to go back to the real world.
