For a Moment

I recently came across a video of a train driver slowing down so his passengers could watch the fireworks finale outside a BTS concert in Mexico. It showed many of the passengers getting excited and fully caught up in the moment.

Technically, the train was delayed.

There were probably people onboard who were tired, rushing somewhere, uninterested, or simply wanting to get home on time. In a world built around schedules and efficiency, slowing down a train for fireworks makes very little sense.

And yet, something about it moved so many people.

Perhaps because moments like these feel increasingly rare.

Modern life often feels like everything has to be optimized. Faster deliveries. Faster replies. Faster routes. Faster output. Even rest is often approached with the intention of becoming more productive afterward.

Somewhere along the way, we began treating pauses as interruptions rather than part and parcel of life itself. And yet, some of life’s most meaningful moments arrive unplanned.

Watching fireworks from a train window.
Listening to a song a little longer before getting out of the car.
Standing in the kitchen as the morning light streams in through the window.
Looking up when the sky turns pink.

Small things.
Brief things.
Things that do not seem to contribute to life in any real functional ways.

And yet, they matter.

I don’t think we always remember these exact moments years later. Many of them disappear from our memories almost completely. But perhaps the feeling remains somewhere within us.

A bit of joy.
A spirit made slightly stronger.
A reminder that life is not something to just get through, manage, optimize, or survive.

There is also something deeply human about shared moments. The train slowing down did not benefit one person alone. For a brief moment, strangers experienced something together.

This reminds me of the ‘kampong’ spirit. ‘Kampong’ is the Malay word for village. The ‘kampong’ spirit encompasses strong neighborly ties and looking out for one another.

Where people noticed one another.
Where conversations mattered.
Where not everything was measured by speed, output or efficiency.
Where moments were allowed to exist without needing to justify themselves.

Of course, efficiency matters too. Schedules matter. Responsibilities matter. Real life depends on these systems functioning properly.

But perhaps modern life becomes a little impoverished when efficiency becomes the only thing we value.

A moment may only last a few seconds in the infinity of time, but sometimes what it leaves behind can sustain us for longer than we realize.