She sits and watches the world go by

I have seen her many times, always sitting against the wall and watching the crowd go by. She is there every night, sometimes alone, sometimes with a little girl.



People walk past and don't even look. People come to Orchard Road to do their shopping, not to watch others.



Nobody even stops for a second. Everyone is busy doing their own thing. Holding hands, smoking, grabbing each others' bottoms.



She watches the people go by. There is an endless variety of characters.


They look hungry. They might not have eaten since morning.


They look very sad.


All they have with them is a bottle of water.







So I went up to her and asked her, "why do you sit here so often? Do you have anything else to do?"

"I have no job," she replies. I feel sad for her. She says she cannot find any job because the economy is bad.

"Don't you have any family members to help?"

She is silent.

But then I realized, she has no job, but she is not a street beggar. There are no coins around her. No cups. No overturned hats. She is not looking for money. She is just watching the world go by.

Because if you keep watching, something is sure to happen. And jobs may appear out of nowhere.