I See Fewer and Fewer People

I see fewer and fewer people.

I see titles, profiles, results and carefully curated images of life. I see plenty of communication, but fewer real conversations.

In the street, we pass one another as though passing obstacles. In the lift, we lower our gaze to a phone so we do not have to raise it toward another person.

In meetings, we listen in order to reply, not to understand. Online, we speak about community, yet often have no idea how the person sitting across from us is doing.

The human being has not disappeared from the world. We have simply grown accustomed to looking through one another while rushing toward something we have declared more important.

We have become more visible than ever, and less able to notice one another.

We know who received a new title, who changed jobs, who bought something expensive and who posted a photograph from a place we would like to visit.

But we do not know who has been silent for a long time because they no longer have the strength to explain. Who smiles so as not to burden others. Who gathers themselves every morning before stepping out into the world.

I do not believe humanity has disappeared. It simply rarely makes noise. It does not become news. It does not build a profile. It does not ask for applause.

It appears when strangers raise money to save someone’s life. When someone stays a little longer to listen. When a person helps and leaves before anyone learns their name.

Perhaps the problem is not only that the world has moved away from people. Perhaps we, too, have grown accustomed to noticing what is wrong more easily than what quietly proves, every day, that humanity still exists.

But closeness does not arrive on its own. It asks us to slow down enough to see someone. To set aside our answer and ask one more question. To be present even when we have nothing to gain.

Because sometimes a person does not need a solution. They need proof that they have not become invisible.

I see fewer and fewer people. That is why I believe more and more that we must consciously look for them, in others and in ourselves.

Reshid Dervishi