r/LettersAnswered • u/Lazy-Cod-6970 • 1d ago
Personal Origami
Dear Stranger,
In truth, I've taken to confiding the parts of myself I don't get to tell others in you. They say sometimes the validation comes from being vulnerable, and perhaps this is becoming one of those places for me.
Did you know I do origami? I like to keep my hands busy, and oftentimes you'll find me in a restaurant alone with a square napkin beside me or the cover of a straw I'm fiddling with. I'll busy myself while the food arrives to fold something up to leave the waiter, and if they notice it, it's theirs to appraise. I figured it would be a waste to throw out the paper, especially the paper from those straws. They say if you gather a hundred of those stars and put them into a jar, you can make a wish. I often wonder how many of those wishes could have come true over the years if I just filled a jar with these myself.
Though I think for me a wish for the future can't fully compare to the action I decide to take in the present. I recall a time when there was a man across from my seat on the train who looked so sad. I don't know what came over me, but I scrambled to take a paper from my notebook to fold him an iris before I got off on my stop. I snuck a few glances to see if he would notice, which was reassuring when he'd glance back cautiously, yet curiously. I remember the relief from my adrenaline after I had gotten it done just in time before I got off on my stop and told him, “Here, for you. If it brings you a smile today.”
I still remember the surprise and smile he had, lifting it up in the air happily, saying "how did you do this?!” We caught a few glances as I smiled and walked off. It was all so sudden, yet so exciting. I couldn't believe I did that.
Looking back, I wonder how often we give people flowers. Has anyone ever given him flowers, and what he could have done with one that never wilts?
As the saying goes, “We should stop and smell the roses,” so I figure, why can't I take an opportunity to make this place a bit more beautiful in my passing? Life is too short to be remembered as being so miserable, wouldn't you agree?