People are Strangers, Strangers are Strange...

Face value, threat level, what do these items have in common and how do they relate to one another? These are questions that are surprisingly with us much of the time whether we are aware of them are not. For example, were one to enter a store and discuss a purchase with a sales-person several thoughts would likely be running through our heads:

What a horrible day at work, I really must do something to "take care" of that annoying new manager, what was it that he said he was allergic to again? Oh crap, is that person checking me out, what a day not to shave, wait, I'm not wearing a skirt, just relax and breathe, posture, don't forget your posture, thank you mom for insisting on all that proper shit when I was younger. Right, ok, so what was I doing here again, oh yeah, buying something, let's see, what is this guy blathering on about, do I really need a product protection plan for a bottle of shampoo, I mean what's the worst that can happen, I might actually use the whole thing up, heaven forbid, besides he's sporting a crew cut smoother than my rear end, what can he really know about hair products, heck maybe he did buy this shampoo and it made his hair fall out forcing him into this pathetic attempt to force the same fate into all the customers who come here, damn it, I'm doing it again, I really need to stop thinking too much, why can't I be more like Jayne?

Now to be truthful, there could be a good deal less or even a good deal more firing through our syntaxes during such a stimulating experience, and for sure there would definately have been some random word blurps such as, "ugly, fat, skinny, hot, cold, sex, sex, fuck, sex, sex, boring, boring, LOST, I, AM, LOST" (and repeat), but two constants would have remained true. On the one hand we would have similarly questioned our first impressions of our surroundings, judging what should and shouldn't be taken for its "face value". Well, that is if judge can be the word for instantly dismissing anything resembling intuition so we could resort to the oh, so much ever more reliable practice of trusting our inner "Targ-ets" and forgetting anything resembling human warmth in our final decision making process. While on the other, not so often used, and unfairingly implied inferior partner-hand, we would be obssesed with making sure that nothing immediately around us challenged our fragile self-conceptions, and if one were to observe any objectionable material we would quickly begin ingoring it, competing with it, maligning it and trying to sleep with it all at the same time.

What a busy scenario, almost as aimless as my writing and certainly longer-lasting, such behavior can numb us completely to anything worth feeling and drive us mad for longing for easier, simpler days when we were blind to our parents' crazed scramble for the money to take care of us and could be made happy by the soothing push of a power button. The blissful somnambulism of it all! What I would give for that power button now.