I was searching for a train station. The kind you rarely see. Small. Countryside. I found it. And by happenchance, I found something else – someone else – Miyako, the station master. I watched her smile at each exiting passenger. Then, I noticed her wave at the departing one-car train. Surprisingly, she continued waving. Miyako waved until there was no trace left of the distant train. No one witnessed her, except… well, me. In that short time span, my love and wonder for life was renewed.
When I spoke to Miyako later, she said at first, she felt so shy and hardly waved at all. Slowly, over time, she began doing something she neither needed to do, nor imagined she ever would. But she did it.
So, this is Miyako, master of a tiny station, who attends to every train and passenger that passes by in the middle of nowhere in Japan. Miyako is finding beauty in the simplest task.
Story submitted by: Erez Sitzer
(on Twitter: @erezsitzer)