[ESP/ENG] Se amable / Be kind

Every day we meet someone completely unknown, that we had never seen before, and that we had never met before.

Be kind. Everyone is fighting a battle that you know nothing about.

I don't know who said that phrase for the first time, I don't even know if it's "the right one" since there are many versions of it.

The truth is that it is something that I practice every day, because I also have had bad days and there are kind and educated people who have made them better, but on the other hand there are people who make those days the worst too.

Taking random photographs of people on the street here in Florida has made me wonder about these people I shoot more than usual. As the subject of the first photo, what was he waiting for? Maybe another coffee? Maybe he was waiting for his coffee to chill? Or is it just a gesture that he's cold? Possibly, he was waiting for someone else who was picking up his coffee and I didn't notice. The photo was for him, I ask myself the questions when I edit, already too late to oay attention to the details of the scene.

These two people may be a happy couple, or sad. Maybe just two friends who coordinated to meet in that coffee shop, or coincided. It could also be that they met at that precise moment and decided to give themselves the opportunity for dialogue. They may even be relatives, cousins or siblings. I won't know it, and you won't know it, just them, and maybe they don't know it at all either.

Todos los dias nos topas con alguien completamente desconocido, que nunca habíamos visto, y al que nunca habiamos conocido antes.

Se amable. Todos estan luchando una batalla de la que no sabes nada al respecto.

No se quien haya dicho esa frase por primera vez, ni siquiera se si esa es "la correcta" ya que yay muchas versiones de ella.

Lo cierto es que es algo que practico a diario, porque yo también he tenido malos dias y hay gente amable y educada que los han hecho mejores, pero por otro lado hay personas que hacen de esos dias los peores también.

Hacer fotografia a personas de manera aleatoria en la calle acá en Florida me ha hecho preguntarme cosas sobre estas personas más de lo normal. Como el sujeto de la primera foto, ¿que estará esperando?, ¿Quizas otro café?, ¿Quizas que se enfrie su café?, ¿O solamente es un gesto de que tiene frio?, es posible que estuviera esperando a otra persona que estaba retirando su café y yo no me fijé. La foto era para el, las preguntas me las hago es cuando edito, osea, muy tarde para los detalles de la escena.

Estas dos personas es posible que sean una feliz pareja, o triste. Quizás solo dos amigos que coordinaron para encontrarse en aquel café, o coincidieron. También puede ser que se conocieron en ese preciso instante y decidieron darse la oportunidad del dialogo. Hasta puede que sean familiares, primos o hermanos. No lo sabré yo, ni lo sabras tu, solo ellos, y quizás tampoco lo sepan del todo.

Sometimes, many times, we let ourselves be carried away by appearances, I let myself be carried away by the one of this gentleman, I confess it, do not judge me, it has also happened to you before. His appearance of having several days without shaving, a pair of work pants, a bag full of things, newspaper in hand and shoes that are not exactly what the Instagram publicity shows us, I judged that book by its cover, not in a bad way, I only thought that he was an honest man who came in for his morning coffee during his work break. It turns out that then, it happened again, I let myself go, this time not by subappearance, but by his holdings, which do not define who each person is either. Suddenly the gentleman was using his high-end laptop and cell phone to make a video call to who knows who. What a series of unfounded social prejudices, isn't it?

A veces, muchas veces, nos dejamos llevar por apariencias, yo me dejé llevar por la de este señor, lo confieso, no me juzgues, también te ha pasado. Su aspecto de que tiene varios dias sin afeitarse, un pantalón de trabajo, un bolso muy lleno de cosas, periodico wn mano y zapatos que no son precisamente lo que nos muestra la publicdad de Instagram hiciero que juzgara a ese libro por su portada, no de mala manera, solo pense que era un señor honrado que entró por su café matutino durante su break de trabajo. Resulta que luego, pasó una segunda vez, me deje llevar, esta vez no por sub apariencia, sino por sus tenencias, que tampoco definen quien es cada persona. De un momento a otro el señor estaba utilizando su computadora portatil de alta gama y su teléfono celular para hacer una video llamada a quien sabe quien. Vaya serie de prejuicios sociales sin bases ¿Verdad?.

Then I thought... What does it matter if the gentleman works a lot or a little, if he bought what he has or someone gave it to him, if he has or does not have. Maybe he is happier than I am now and here I am judging him and I don't even know him.

It is rare to get to know someone just by taking a picture of them in the street, some are happy and make your job easy, talk to you, ask you many questions, help you, others on the other hand get upset, believe that you will hurt them in some way, there are those who take aggressive behavior. Anyway, you have to respect everyone because you do not know why they reacted that way, for good or bad.

Do you remember the phrase I put at the beginning?

Be kind. You're not the one to give a bad treat to someone who perhaps doesn't deserve it, or does, you'll never know it, unless you really get to know him, and even so, even the strangest can make a bad day the best.

Go out and be someone's stranger today.

-W

Luego pensé... Que importa si el señor trabaja mucho o poco, si se compro lo que tiene o se lo regalaron, si tiene o no tiene. Quizás sea más feliz de lo que yo soy ahora y aqui estoy juzgandolo y ni lo conozco.

Es raro llegar a conocer a alguien solo por tomarle una foto en la calle,algunos se alegran y te hacen fácil el trabajo, hablan contigo, conversan, te hacen muchas preguntas, te ayudan, otros por otro lado se molestan, creen que les haras daño de alguna manera, hay quienes toman conductas agresivas. De cualquier manera, hay que respetar a todos porque no sabes porque reaccionaron así, por bien o por mal.

¿Recuerdas la frase que coloqué al principio?

Se amable. No eres quien para darle un mal trato a alguien que quizás no lo merece, o si, nunca lo sabrás, a menos que lo llegues a conocer de verdad, y aun así, hasta el más extraño puede hacer de un mal dia el mejor.

Sal y se el extraño de alguien hoy.

-W