Baffling, April 8, 2014

People still baffle me, and I probably baffle them, too. But let's never talk about it, because that would be all mature and stuff.

Bad day?

My day has been terrific. This is just a general, obvious observation that has been swirling around in my head for a few months now. (Warning: lengthy babble ahead.) People go in circles, fueled by assumptions, presumptions, speculation, some truth, some truthiness, a peppering of lies, some fear, courage, arrogance, mistaken personal interpretations, egos large and small, self-loathing and self-loving, a variety of degrees said to bestow "expertise," and a very human tendency to put other people into boxes, while rarely, if ever, allowing them to climb out or to just say, "Hey! That's not me," and believe them. That last clause about believing is important - but probably less so than just backing off, graciously, acknowledging where you end and the other person begins. I've suffered at the hands of the box-putters, as it were ("boxers" sounded too ... canine), and it has been unbearably painful trying to free myself without insulting anyone in the process. People take it so personally when you reject their box, when really the only thing you want is for everyone to be happy. Maybe we take the old mirror metaphor too far. I don't see myself in everyone else any more than they see themselves in me. Not every reflection means something, no matter how much I've written about it in amateur poetry (see below) and no matter that I have at least 24 mirrors in my house. (Geez, people will run with anything if they see it in a photo.) It just seems we rarely engage any more in the one thing that can fix, or even prevent, human mishaps, which is direct, in-person, honest communication. (I'm pointing at myself, here, too, so no one think I'm being a snarky prick again.) Anyhoo, this is just what's on the mind of a hopeful cynic, that being me, primarily.