9.29.25: Street Magician

I once watched a street magician in Bangkok vanish a cigarette, only for it to reappear behind my friend’s ear. Everyone gasped. Later, I realized the real trick wasn’t the cigarette—it was convincing thirty jaded adults to feel wonder for five seconds. That’s magic. It doesn’t matter if the cigarette went up his sleeve or into another dimension. What matters is he broke the loop of scrolling, hustling, stressing. He reminded us that reality has cracks, and in those cracks, wonder lives. Maybe we need more bad card tricks and fewer notifications. The world might feel lighter that way.