Where does this thought come from?  And now another one.  My mind fascinates me.  Is it joined to other minds, ones from the present or from the past?  Or … from the future?

I went to HEMA for breakfast this morning.  It’s a department store and cafeteria in Ghent centrum.  There’s a gorgeous terrace overlooking Korenmarkt.

As I looked up from my croissant, here came two men carrying their trays.  I’d guess they were in their sixties – one black, one white.  Then the explosion in my head:

The black man is less than the white man!

What?!  I’m not prejudiced.  I am kind.  The jolt of my instant thought came from … movies?  My parents?  White culture?

I sat there appalled by what I somehow created.  “Down deep, am I really that way?”  No.

***

Then a mom and her teenaged daughter sat down in front of me.  A middle-aged fellow was approaching their table.  “Of course he’ll join them,” I reasoned.  Except he kept walking – by them and by me.

Inexplicably I felt sad.  I wanted a joining, not a distance.  I wanted smiles, not strangers.  “This makes no sense,” I said to myself, wondering why I was so attached to a certain reality.  And again I muse about the contents of my head.

***

An older fellow walked out of the restaurant, leaned over the railing and lit a cigarette.  I’ve often waved to him.  His job is to collect fifty cents (half a euro) from anyone who wants to use the bathroom.  He sits on his stool outside the male and female doors for maybe eight hours a day.

What is his life like?  What impact does his job have on him?  Does it wear him down?  Or does he see each person who comes his way as needing something, and he provides it for them?  A burden or a service?

***

I expect my mind will continue to spill out its contents for quite some time

I can’t wait to see what’s next