Fleeting encounters
I see her in Venice, one afternoon when the sun is low, and the shadows grow long. She leans casually against an old stone wall, a cigarette between her lips, watching the hustle and bustle of the city with a look of serene detachment. It seems like everything happening around her—the crowds, the calls of the gondoliers, the chatter of voices—doesn’t touch her at all. She seems untouchable, a part of Venice, yet entirely her own. Our eyes meet, and we share a brief, fleeting smile. Then I move on, into the crowd pushing through the narrow streets. But somehow, I can’t get this girl out of my mind.
„I don’t believe in accidents. There are only encounters in history. There are no accidents.„
– Pablo Picasso
Sometimes I think about what might have happened if I had simply stopped. If I had mustered the courage to take a few steps towards her, maybe start a conversation. These are the thoughts that haunt you, that settle in and won’t let go. What if I had broken through the barrier of my own shyness? Would we have talked, laughed, had a coffee together? Would we have met again later, explored the city together?
It’s the uncertainty that tortures you. The idea that life is decided at such crossroads, by a fleeting moment, a tiny action that changes the direction you go. You tell yourself it would have been so easy. A smile, a word, a question. But instead, there is this insecurity, this feeling that you are not enough, that life is always happening somewhere else. You see yourself from a distance, as you walk by, and feel the weight of this missed opportunity.Throughout the years, many notable figures have graced Sarajevo with their presence. Nobel Prize winner Ivo Andrić walked these streets, drawing inspiration from the city’s rich tapestry for his literary masterpieces or the legendary filmmaker Emir Kusturica captured the soul of the Balkans in his films. Their legacies are woven into the very fabric of my stones, whispering tales of creativity and resilience to those who pass by.
Human shyness is a strange thing. It keeps us from taking risks, protects us from rejection and pain. But it is also a prison we build for ourselves, brick by brick. Every unanswered glance, every unspoken word becomes a wall that separates us from the possibilities of life. Sometimes, it only takes a moment of bravery, an instant where we shake off uncertainty and open ourselves up. But often that moment is hard to find. Instead, we stay in the safety of the familiar, content with what we know, and let the chance slip by to truly live our lives.
What would have happened if I had spoken to her? Maybe she would have smiled, we would have talked, and it would have become one of those magical afternoons you never forget. Or maybe she would have rejected me, turned away, and I would have walked on, a bit humbled but at least richer by an experience. In either case, it would have been a story, a memory that stays alive. But by doing nothing, only fantasy remains, only the thought of what could have been.
Shyness holds us back; it keeps us in our comfort zone while life goes on outside. It is like a quiet enemy that defeats us from within, preventing us from reaching our full potential. And yet it is a part of us, deeply rooted, hard to overcome. It takes courage to break out of it, to open up, to show vulnerability. But it is this courage that makes life worth living.
„ I still see that girl in Venice before me, her cigarette, the smoke floating in the warm air. Our eyes meet, and we smile at each other, a moment both brief and eternal. Perhaps I will never see her again; perhaps she will remain just an image in my memory, a symbol of all the chances I missed.“
I still see that girl in Venice before me, her cigarette, the smoke floating in the warm air. Our eyes meet, and we smile at each other, a moment both brief and eternal. Perhaps I will never see her again; perhaps she will remain just an image in my memory, a symbol of all the chances I missed. But in my memory, she lives on, and with her the possibility that life can change at any time, through a fleeting moment, through the courage to take the first step.
And so it is every day, in every city. In Paris, where a woman stands by a bookshop, leafing through the pages of an old novel as if she were diving into another world. Our eyes meet, only for a moment, and then I’m gone, one of thousands passing her by that day. In Rome, where a young woman stands at the Trevi Fountain, tossing a coin over her shoulder and making a wish while the sun glints in her hair. In Barcelona, where a dancer performs her art on a busy plaza, her movements fluid and full of passion, and I wonder what drives her, what she dreams of. In New York, where a stranger sits in a crowded café, her gaze lost in the city lights flickering through the window, and I wonder what brought her here, what stories she carries inside.
These fleeting encounters are like sparks flashing in the dark and then disappearing. They are a part of the life unfolding around us, a reminder that we are all on this journey together, each with our own dreams, fears, and hopes. Each of us carries a story, and sometimes, just sometimes, these stories meet for a brief moment, our paths crossing.
It is the unplanned encounters that touch us the most. They make us think of what might have been, of the endless possibilities that life offers if only we have the courage to step out of our own insecurity. Perhaps it is the longing for these moments that drives us out into the world, leading us from city to city, in search of a glance, a smile, that tells us we are not alone.
And so I keep moving, through the streets of cities, a part of the crowd, always searching for the next fleeting moment, the next sign that life is full of mysteries waiting to be discovered. I know I’m not the only one. Everywhere, every day, in every city, there are people who encounter each other, who look at each other, who smile and then move on, each in their own direction, each on their own path. But in those brief moments, we share something that connects us, and maybe that is enough to make the world a little brighter.
