Ever sat in a tube train in the middle of a tunnel during one of those interminable delays wondering what's happened?
Then a voice, a rare voice, a warm voice, crackles into life over the intercom. He explains the delay. He is as pissed off as you are. He even cracks a joke .What happens next?
Suddenly, but slowly, people in the carriage, previously anonymous, light up, an eye meets an eye. A smile greets a smile. A nod beckons a nod. A glow of communication courses through the carriage. Like lights flickering on in a darkening landscape after a power cut.
And then the train rumbles back into traction. Anonymity returns. For a brief moment in time, we become close, sharing a common communication. Someone put it more eloquently.
"I -thou encounters can be awesome when one is reminded that, for a given instant, two persons journeying through time at a given moment become close, sharing common communication systems"
From the author of O Derry Boy - a childhood in pictures and poems, I will bring you insights into communication in our personal and social spheres . Communication in different languages are explored, Spanish and Mandarin. If you have any thoughts, insights, comments please send to mervyn_cooke@hotmail.co.uk or post below.
