The big brown eyes peeked over the seat back at me, then disappeared only to reappear again. I had to smile at the Hispanic toddler, probably no more than 2 years old, who occupied the seat in front of me as I took the VTA light rail to work this morning. He took an interest in my laptop bag, and I played a little bit of peek-a-boo and made some funny faces at him before returning to my customary private worship and prayer time that I usually engage in during the 25-minute ride to work.
During the ride, I observed this little boy alternate between laughing, jumping up and down on the seat, peering out the window in wonder, squirming out of his mother's arms, screaming and whining, and often switching moods within the space of a few seconds.
This led me to wonder... as babies and toddlers, we don't hide our emotions - the world knows immediately whether we are happy, sad, frustrated, pained, and so on. Is it then a mark of a maturity to learn to hide your emotions as you grow older? Or is what seems like hiding actually being able to first conceal, then process emotions in such a way as to not infringe on another's personal space?
If I were an impressionable toddler (sometimes I can be, I guess) looking to imitate what I see around me... being on the train this morning would teach me that I need to be silent and avoid everyone's eyes around me while we all make our way to our respective destinations.
I wonder if that's really how things should be.
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