Places like the Trafford Centre where I spent sometime few days ago, attracts thousands of people every day. People go there to shop, eat, walk, or even just be there. Under one large roof are families, groups of friends, lovers, and even people who come there by themselves just to stroll. At first glance, all you seem to see is a bustling shopping centre full of noise, colour, and a so many movement. But when you stop for a moment, close your eyes, and take a closer look again, you see something deeper: a snapshot of humanity coming together, and yet they are unknown to each other.
When you go to the food court, you will many tables filled up, other chairs close to the table, trays being carried, with laughter and talking all over the place. When you sit down and observe quietly, you will see that each table is a world of its own. One family loudly engages in funny stories and jokes, a couple leaning in close to whisper, and a group of teenagers focused on their phones, laughing at something only they understand. At the next table, you will others having their lunch and and not talking much. All of these people sit next yet nothing everyone of them know each other. They share the same air, and yet remain strangers.
It looks like everyone there is just there for their own sake yet each person is dependent upon the other, even if they do not acknowledge it. Shops bring goods customers might need, cleaners ensure the place is tidy, restaurants prepare food, security ensures everything is in order. The shoppers provide the energy for the centre, and their presence exists to support the shops existence. It's a kind of a symbiotic relationship: One cannot exist without the other. So, even if they do not exchange words, they are interconnected through an invisible chain of dependency.
Walking in the Trafford Centre is like walking through a moving sea of people. You walk past hundreds of faces, and each face is associated with a story: a little girl pulling on her mother's hand, a shopper rushing out to catch a bus, friends laughing too loud, while others get annoyed by their loud and boisterous laughter. We do not know their names, maybe even their stories, but they fill the atmosphere with their presence. Without them, the space would be flat and boring.
This is something I see in the world we live in today. Billions of people inhabit this planet as neighbors, with most never learning the other exists. Maybe there is something beautiful in that. You do not need to know a person's name to know both can share the same narrative of being human. We exist, as strangers and companions in a moment, space bound by air, time, space, and hidden relationships of interdependence.