Sonder

I just learned a new word...

I just learned a new word. Sonder. It feels so sweet as it rolls off my tongue, as if I not only savoured its syllables, but also grasped its meaning.

It is a realisation, an awakening from our own maudlin minds, an escape from the thoughts about our life and the people encircling it. It is like being startled from a day-dream during a typical French class on a rainy day, and understanding that mere bystanders are just like us. They have a family, loved ones, tormenting thoughts and villains whom they stay up late thinking about; either feeling vengeful or apprehensive. And maybe that villain is them, and maybe it is you.

Yes, you. You, could be why they are the way they are, or the reason why they had been feeling things in a certain way, while you continue down the street with your own thoughts concerning you, wholesomely oblivious to the effect you had just created.

Or, you could be the reason they would finally see that life is truly worth lingering in.

You would be an inspiration to them; they would privately promise themselves to emulate that warm smile and those reassuring words.

So, in a world where most people either do not know what the phenomenon even is or feel like it does exist but neglect it nevertheless, who would you like to be?

The one they would remember as cruel and malign, you would be surprised at how vicious they had painted you in their own frame of mind?

Or, the one they would aspire to follow and have guide them at their lowest?

Take a second to frankly admit who you would most likely be.

Either you suffuse your contempt or your benevolence, remember that the passerby you had thrown a glare at also has problems, traumas and stories to share just as much as you do.

But the thing is, it is so fleeting, like a light breeze or cotton candy dissolving on your taste buds. However, just like with the cotton candy, the aftertaste is what troubles the mind most..