I wrote that the other day, kind of like it, specially the last sentence:
"In the airports, there is a line where passengers have to separate from
their relatives, friends or
whoever went to say bye to them. "Acompañantes", we say in Spanish. I don't
know what's the word in English. There is a clerk there checking passports,
and many times the persons accompanying the passenger ask the clerk whether
they can continue a bit more, maybe until the boarding door. Systematically,
the clerk has to answer "no". Then, the passenger and their relatives, maybe
the significant other, hug and kiss and even cry, and pronounce these words
that are always pronounced in such moments. And they do as if they say
definitely bye, but then hug again and try to make the most of 30 seconds
more...
I wonder what the clerk thinks. I am sure he/she has to see the same scene
at least 20 times a day. I wonder whether they feel sad, or they don't feel
anything at all.
Yesterday, I looked at the clerk, and she seemed to say something to me with
her eyes. She seemed to say I have to see that everyday, and I don't like
it. She seemed to feel the same impotence I felt, the same "things are like
this, not that they are reasonable, they are just like this, and you, you or
me can't change anything at all."
A border, like a cementry, is a sad place to work at."