–Hi sir, how can I help you today?
–Maybe you can tell me, who am I to you? I ask because I realised today that I come into every encounter with every person from a position of my own context - my own prejudices and self-knowledge, as much as anyone knows themselves. You, for example, you have no idea about my history, my childhood, the state of my mental health. You can't know the depths of feelings I have felt for other people or things, you cannot imagine me crying or, I dunno, tripping balls. You have no idea that five minutes ago I just got my bike wheel stuck in a tram track and flew overboard while 100 people laughed and one person shouted "wanker!", and that I’m entering this conversation with all this baggage, in the mood I’m in, in the context of every mood I’ve ever had. And because of that, I enter this conversation thinking I am the most important person in the world. And despite all of that, despite every second of my life that has been leading up to this encounter, the fact is I am entirely inconsequential to you, a piece of driftwood you don’t think twice about as you make your way to wherever it is you’re going.
And you too, you have this deep and textured history, a profound sense of being, hidden pain and joyful memories. Your life is at least as complicated as mine, and I will never even scratch the surface of it. And all I can think about now is the tragedy in this, that we will probably never truly know each other, that the miracle of all life and creation will be untouched because we meet in this context, where I'm just here to ask for a double shot Americano.
–Do you want milk with that, sir?