As it is: Other people

What if there was only a single person on this whole planet, would he ever smile, would he ever cry. When you are happy, you smiile. But try smiling and you'll feel that hint of happiness just through this random choice to smile. And some smiles are infectious, you see someone smiling and you can't help but synchronize yours with theirs and so does your happiness (at least up to some extent).

Coming back to that solitary person, in a world devoid of other people I don't think emotions would express themselves externally. Our expressions are a way of saying things which our words would struggle to capture fairly. One look into someone's eyes and they speak to us in layers so deep down that it bypasses conscious comprehension, we know them long before we form any thoughts about them. A single look from a friend or a total stranger can make you shrink or expand beyond your physical dimensions. People are pervasive, they won't leave you alone, fortunately so.

Our systems to "sense" people are way more evolved than we imagine. You might be sitting with a "friend" but then also feel a lingering unease which you can't really put a finger on. On a conscious level they are doing nothing wrong but their "presence" becomes unbearable. And on the other end, just existing in the vicinity of a total stranger can make you feel like you have always belonged there and makes you feel like you can breathe a little easier without paying any price for it. A solitary person would climb a mountain and get a view of the valley from the summit and fill his heart with joy. And now imagine, just imagine, there was another person with him at the summit, our person would smile twice as wide and so will the other person, and they would see their happiness being reflected on each other's faces, elevating their whole experience. No company is better that a bad company, but oh the sweet release of a good company.

Other people can be unpredicatable, unreliable and it is much safer to not rely on anyone. But this safety also takes away the possibility of a life lived a little more freely. It takes a lot of courage to ask someone to carry you for some time. What if they decline and you feel like you have exposed to the world that you are not perfect, but think about it, what if they don't. Do it quite a few times and you will realize that people are worth the risk. Shared joy is double the joy and shared misery is half the misery. But not to be absorbed too much by our own selves, as we are also the other people for other people. People have a great power to influence other people and when this power when used kindly and wisely has the potential to change the trajectory of many lives. I still remember my mathematics teacher telling me in 10th grade that I am good at maths even when I was failing at the newly introduced vicious bully called trigonometry. But just a few seconds of him expressing faith in my abilities, him appreciating me gave me faith in myself for life. I was never bad at maths ever again. There have been countless such times where such words have carried me and reminded me of who I am, even when I forgot myself. And many such acts of kindness keep shaping us day after day. And we at the same time keep shaping lives beyond just ours with this intense relational power granted to us.

Being self sufficient might be a good thing to be, but having someone by your side and being there for someone else is a joy which cannot be measured in terms of survival and efficiency. Life is not just to be coped with, but to be experienced. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that "Other people make life worth living". Beautiful music produced by strangers saves us, painful music by the same people makes us feel like we are not alone. Reading works written by other people makes us feel connected to them through some sheets of paper even if they are not in this world anymore. Art created by other people speaks to us even if we don't truly understand it. A simple thank you or sorry spoken by people on the street carries enough essence to make us feel slightly less separated. Kindness even in transactional affairs make us feel them not so transactional. What if we could be brave and eventually take the risk and realize the tremendous power and influence other people hold in our lives that we could take a shaky risky breath and instead of "other" we call them "Our People".