Peoples is peoples

Big city, hmm? Live. Work, huh? But. Only peoples. Peoples is peoples. No is buildings. Is tomatoes, huh? Is peoples, is dancing, is music, is potatoes. So, peoples is peoples. Okay?
        -- Pete, Muppets take Manhattan, 1984

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation,” declares Henry David Thoreau in Walden. I admire that early-19th century environmentalist and philosopher, but I’m not sure I agree with this generalization.

Thoreau just as famously said, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

Must we not, in fairness, apply this logic to conformists just as to non-conformists? Are so-called “ordinary people” necessarily “desperate” -- or even “ordinary,” for that matter?

I’m meeting a lot of people on this trip; most of them certainly appear ordinary on first glance. Some of the many dozens whom I’ve met during 122 days on the road have been documented here; a few appear in the Wandering Dave photo gallery or as part of audio recordings in the Podcast channel.

But, I’m only sharing a fraction of what I experience and I’m realizing more and more that I am actually getting to know only a few things about a few people – I’ll see thousands of individuals during my trip, but will only get to spend a few minutes with a few hundred of them.

During nearly a year on the road, I will spend well over 1000 hours eating meals with others. I’ve already dined with three or four hundred souls and have heard some really great stories.

I’m making a point of engaging people in conversation and may end up conducting a lot more hours of interviews this year than Larry King will.

In other words, the most significant aspect of this trip has become contact with people.

After four months on the road I can safely say that even if I did nothing else, this trip will prove worthwhile because of these conversations.

I am uplifted by the people I meet. They restore my faith in humanity. They remind me that human nature is far more good than evil; and, given the opportunity, most folks will do the right thing.

Oh, I’m not expecting to find ultimate wisdom; that may well be an unrealistic hope in any circumstances. But I am gaining insight; and it is refreshing to hear voices from locales other than Wall Street, Washington and Hollywood.

We see way too much of people who don’t represent the mainstream: entertainers, politicians, crooks and others who seem determined to call attention to themselves.

I am finding comfort in the smiles and kind words of strangers. I am gaining enlightenment from personal stories, told without bragging.

Perhaps this quiet eloquence that describes what has given meaning to others’ lives will help me find meaning in my own.

What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculties! In form and moving, how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension, how like a god! The beauty of the world! The paragon of animals!
      -- Wm Shakespeare, Hamlet