I was walking with the baby, pushing him down the street in his buggy to get him to sleep, when an elderly man in a wheelchair, pushed by his carer, passed us by.  

It was powerful imagery: a baby at the start of his life, helpless, dependent on me for survival, being pushed in a buggy, juxtaposed with someone approaching the end of his life, also dependent on another, being pushed around in a wheelchair. 

If that’s not a reminder of the passing of time – the transient nature of everything we experience – then I don’t know what is. 

My first instinct was to engage with the baby in some way, to let him know that I understood the message and that I didn’t take him for granted. But he had already fallen asleep, so I kept walking. 

A baby in a buggy passing an elderly man in a wheelchair.  

Powerful imagery indeed.