The walls press in on me, confining, like a cage.

I am an animal in a zoo exhibit; people look at me, gawk sometimes, but never really stop.

The passersbys constantly move and flow around me, but I always remain.

Like a boulder in the midst of an ever-rushing stream, I watch everything, but am forever separated.

I am still, unmoving, and although it hurts to see the rest of the people whir on by,

Captivated by the ins and outs of their daily lives, enthralled by the smallest of moments,

There is nothing that could entice me to join them.

I observe it all from the vantage point of the animal, isolated and alone.

I sit inside my cage, peering out into the unfamiliar mass of humanity lying before me.

What motivates them? What empowers them to continue on with their trivial tasks each and every second?

To where are they rushing? What is their final destination?

Questions that I could never hope to understand, questions to which I have no answers.

No reason, no faith, no destination.

I am simply here, in the present, at a distance.

It all plays out in front of me like a black and white movie, “Humanity.”

I sit inside my cage, uncomfortable, yes, but unwilling to join the rest of them.

I’ll let the walls close in, for now, because I’m not quite ready to move downstream.

I don’t want the cinema to end.