A half-hour lunch break brings to the surface many things to ponder. For instance: “Do I know him?” comes frequently to my mind when I am sitting on my bench. Then, as I walk slowly past the person and actually survey them, I find that they are not the person I thought they were. I then pass them and go into one of the many establishments that surround me, pretending that the person I was truly hailing was not them rather someone behind who just happened to pass into the shop that I am now going to terrorize. This act alone keeps them away from me, therefore keeping me from any further humiliation.
Another thing I think about on my lunch break is the person I don’t know who has just asked to share my bench. I find this question strange and rather…un-needed, as I look across the garbage can blocking my view and find an empty bench not too far from my own. But, I let her share mine.
Then there’s the group of kids not too much older than myself. The girl is saying “Hi!” and I answer back, “Hello.” while thinking: Okay… I transform into my little hermit-crab self inside my mind, and cautiously peek out of my safe shell. I can handle this… But then she asks a question that makes me pop right back into my shell without a single look back.
“What are you writing?”
I stare at her aghast. The whole group has stopped to hear my answer. I am silent. Then:
“Just…stuff.” comes my answer.
Thus bringing me to my next epiphany to ponder: What fascinates us so about people we don’t know? How do they tend to look like people we know from a distance, then when we get closer, look nothing like the people we thought they were? Why do they wish to share benches with other strangers? Why do we want to know what a stranger is doing? Is this just curiosity? Human Nature taking over? Maybe it’s just what we’ve evolved into. Maybe. But now, my lunch break is over, and I had to be back five minutes ago.
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Meep. A word which here means meep. Why, were you looking for some deeper meaning there?
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