To sit in a café and smile at a pretty girl and have her smile back, you never say a word to one another or see her again, but surely that is harmony.
An African-American man on business far from the US, he drinks his tea with milk and shuffles his papers and looks around him with an open, inviting smile on his face. He nods at the passing patrons, he answers his phone when it rings “yes sir” in warm jest, he shuffles his papers and banters with the waitress with a warm open smile. He arranges to “catch” a ride back when his meeting is cancelled until tomorrow, he offers his seat to a waiting lady as he prepares to leave, he drinks his tea fast and dons a backward cap and baseball jacket of an American man on a trip from the office.
People drink coffee, I understand this, they meet and they sit and they drink coffee and they talk, this I understand. They sit and they sip their coffee and they laugh and they read and they point their fingers and dimple their foreheads and tell of something awful that happened to them earlier and the coffee gets luke warm and they eventually finish and shake their head and breath in deeply and drink their coffee in large gulps.
I see, from the window, a man taking a picture of a skip filled with rubbish, he lines up his shot and takes a picture and the flash lights the street and people look. Then I take a picture of him and my flash lights the street once more and he looks up and sees the camera pointing at him and while he was feeling an assured object of others aspirations. Taking a picture of human garbage, the leftovers from society, he now knows that I have a picture of a man taking a picture of rubbish and this is what he wishes he had and he turns and walks away.
He looks around as he heads for the door, he hands in his empty glass and looks around, seemingly wanting to say goodbye to everyone. His face so open and genuine and vulnerable and warm, with a gentle smile, this beautiful American man.

Advertisement