He was just a face among many that I saw each day. One of the several dozens of people at work whom I knew very little about. It's sad to think I had only really learned his name just a few moments after he was killed during a freak accident on set. I still couldn't pin him though, that is, until a coworker began to describe his face to me, and his very distinguishable lazy eye. Then like a bad dream, the distant sympathy I had previously felt for him suddenly became almost too close for comfort.
It's strange that just thirty seconds prior he had been absolutely nobody to me. Just another person in the sea of people who I honestly could care less about. Somebody who I figured I would never see again once I left my job. But ironically now, he had become somebody I would never ever forget for the rest of my life. A horrible reminder that this man could have just as easily been me standing there, us being absolutely equals in the timing of life.
The only chance I got to truly interact with him was about two months ago. He came up to make a copy of something and was having trouble working the machine. Weirdly enough, he decided to choose me to help him work the copier, even though we had never met. I of course accepted as I tried to understand his loose English and awkward manner. Then after I had helped him, he looked at me and smiled for just a second, then proceeded to walk away. Looking back, at the time, it all just seemed like such a nothing moment. But today, after all that has happened, I believe our one interaction in time was one of those small gifts you get in life. The kind of gift you have no idea you've received until it's too late.
