A Moment

Yesterday, I was riding home from work on my bike when I shared a moment with a fellow bike rider. As I pedaled down Street 294 towards Monivong, I pulled alongside a Khmer guy about the same age as me. For a second, our eyes met and we smiled at one another, acknowledging our shared existence. At that very moment all of the differences between us dissipated. I wasn't American and he wasn't Cambodian, I wasn't a foreigner and he wasn't a local and neither our education levels nor our material wealth mattered. Riding side by side for the length of the street, about a kilometer, we were just two guys on our bicycles and we could have been anywhere at any time. Though it was the kind of connection that isn't easy to come by and certainly isn't long lasting, it was strong enough to make me wonder how different - or similar - the world's people really are.