Welcome to My World

  Imagine this: You are yourself. You think, you breathe, you eat, you sleep. You have your own taste in clothing, books, music and work. You have your fears, your hopes, your dreams, your weaknesses, and your strengths. You choose what you're going to do, what you're going to wear, and what you're going to believe. And those beliefs shape the foundations of your life. You live in your world.
  Now you walk to the train station. Your eyes are down, focused on the pavement as you walk determinately towards work. You reach the platform and walk past all the blurred faces, all the same-colored suits, all the different colors of hair, and look up at the machine in front of you. Having reached your first stop, you raise your eyes to the buttons, you press them, you insert your money, and the little plastic door at the bottom clicks as you grab your ticket and move on to stand and wait for your train. One last phone call, one last text before the train arrives.
  The sound of wheels in the distance, the rush of wind, the squeal of brakes, and the doors open. You step on. You sit down. The doors close. You stare out the window, the train starts forward and something catches your eye. It's your own reflection in the glass. You look at yourself with and through your own eyes. Your thoughts fly to a million different places. Your mind goes through events, plans, hopes, and memories. This is your world. This is your story. This train, these thoughts, these smells, these sounds, and the sight before you are a part of this story, this world. 
  Something else catches your eye. It's the reflection of everyone else in the train. What was before a blur of faces, a blur of sameness, seems to separate. The hair, the faces, the eyes start to change, start to shine as individuals. One short, one tall; one young, and one old. Different skin, different hair, different eye colors. The train slows at the next stop. More people board, some get off, some stay on the platform outside: waiting. You're fully awake now, fully looking, and fully curious. Expressions begin to stand out. Each serious face has something more to it: anger, sadness, peace...the list goes on. Each serious face tells a different story. Each serious face lives in a different world, their world. 
  And the laughter? The smiles? Each one of them says something different too. Each one hides and conceals, or shines forth without a single worry. Each face, each and every one, changes you. You feel you're seeing for the first time, feeling more than you've ever felt before. One glance at a face and you want to shrink, to laugh, or to cry. One long look and you find yourself taking a deep breath. 
  A voice comes out over the speakers. The train begins to slow. This is your stop. As people stand you rise slowly to your feet. Everything around you slows down as you take it in. The noise around you seems to fade as you step out onto the platform, and you stop...you stop as a voice somewhere within your head seems to whisper: "Welcome to my world..."
  Eyes go past you, faces, expressions, people, stories, and worlds. Each one different. Each one unique. And your spirit screams at you in desperation as the train moves on. It's never felt this much before, never known this much before, never seen this much before.
  Don't ever put people in a box. Don't ever blur them together. 
  Stop looking down, look up! Stop looking in, look out! 
  Who are you? Who's around you? 
  What's their story? What's yours? 
  Welcome to my world...