Saturday, May 28, 2011

Strangers

People you meet that you don't know. Previously unseen faces, unknown attitudes, undiscovered personalities. Unsure of ourselves and others, we choose to guard our secrets and act differently then we normally would. And yet, there are always those people who make us open up without a second thought. Always those who make us want to be ourselves. Why someone we just met can have such an effect on us is a mystery and perhaps it always will be. And yet there is always that warning voice in the back of our heads telling us to be careful and not to make yourself vulnerable to someone you don't know. Slowly, as we get to know the person better, that voice retreats and becomes silent almost all the time. It's always there, but it normally knows when to pop out. It's what we call our instinct. Most of us could probably stand to listen to it more often then not. The things we tell them are strange and varying but nevertheless revealing about ourselves. People will say just about anything to just about anyone. Only rarely to we utterly avoid people we see because our instinct tells us to. We avoid others becausee it's normal and we would be considered strange if we didn't. Some we don't necessarily feel open to just because and some we will tell and give answers to just about anything that they ask.

And still, we push ourselves past our boundaries to gain new friends and new insights into the world. A connection we previously didn't have. Something new we didn't have moments ago. As humans we are incredibly curious. You know what they say, "Curiosity killed the cat," only problem is that the cat has nine lives whereas humans only have one. Or so the legend goes. Or story. Or call it what you will. But regardless of the name, it still exists. Back to curiosity.... why are humans so curious with only one life given to live? Why are we so incredibly willing to be so different and yet so much the same as the crowd? Again, conformity to complete strangers is yet another unsolved mystery of the universe. Perhaps all those mysteries lead up and answer the biggest mystery of them all............... Who are we? Not in general to the universe or the human race or anything of that sort, but rather to ourselves. Perhaps that's why we are so infallibly curious. Perhaps that is the reason certain strangers can make us tell them just about anything. And yet again, maybe the answers to those questions aren't anywhere near to the answers to that crucial question. Maybe they don't even lead anywhere near the answer. And yet, I believe that the answers to those questions can give us more then we give them credit and tell us more about ourselves then any fortuneteller could.