(They bump into each other)

Excuse me.

Excuse me.

(They each walk a couple of steps away from each other)

(She turns back)

Hey, could we do that again? I know we haven't met, but I don't want to be an ant, you know. I mean, it's like we go through life with our antennaes bouncing off one another, continuously on ant auto-pilot with nothing really human required of us. Stop, go, walk here, drive there, all action basically for survival, all communications simply to keep this ant colony buzzing along in an efficient polite manner. Here's your change. Paper or plastic? Credit or debit? Want ketchup with that? I don't want a straw, I want real human moments. I want to see you. I want you to see me. I don't want to give that up. I don't want to be an ant, you know.

Yeah, I know. I don't want to be an ant either. Ha ha. Thanks for kind of jostling me there. I've been kind of on zombie auto-pilot lately, I don't feel like an ant in my head, but I guess I probably look like one. It's like D.H. Lawrence had this idea of two people meeting on a road, and instead of just passing and glancing away, they decide to accept what he calls the confrontation between their souls. It's like freeing the reckless gods within us all.

Well, then, it's like we have met.

(They shake hands)



Waking Life (2001)