Thursday, December 4, 2008

Do You See What I See?

We all see things in our daily life that stop us in our tracks. That can range from a car accident to a magnificent electrical storm. These things tend to make us not want to look away or move on. We are hooked, transfixed and sometimes agog at what we are watching/seeing. We can't help ourselves, try as we might to keep eyes averted, our curiosity will almost always get the better of us.

My Mum relayed a story to me several years ago of a time she was in the doctor's waiting room and another patient was sitting there picking their nose or something along those lines. As hard as she tried, she just couldn't stop looking. It was hilarious when she was telling me. I can't stand it when someone is sniffling and won't blow their nose. I always carry tissues just in case. I was trying to do some research in the library one day and a man sitting opposite me was sniffling like never before. I looked up, went back to my book, looked up and went back to my book but he didn't seem to notice me and eventually I offered him a tissue. He refused!!!! I was absolutely flabbergasted. He soon left the table and I hoped it was to blow his nose somewhere that was private for him.

Children are the classical innocents in this game but where their innocence lies, our blatant "gobsmacked-ness" is. The basis of this could be humour, anger and even sadness. Parents/adults are so worried about what children say to others that it can impact on their inquisitiveness. The most obvious scenario is when a child sees a person in a wheelchair and they ask questions. "Some" adults will hush the child and maybe say "don't be rude", "don't stare" etc.

When I was a personal carer I had my world opened up. I accompanied many people on outings who were elderly or physically impaired and believe me when I say there are more adults who stare than children. Adults just try to hide it. I know because I do it myself. Curiosity gets the better of me. The things I see and learn I use when I need to with acting. Cliched as it sounds, it's true.

Anyway, on to the reason I started this post.

I catch the tram to work every day and if I am running late a colleague gets on the same tram further down the line. We usually sit at the front. So........I was there reading my book and every so often looking up and around. There was a large man sitting on the seat just near me and at one point I looked at him. He had his eyes closed and appeared to be quite relaxed. Although there was something a little bit odd. He had an MP3 player in his mouth. Yes, he did! Just like it was a thermometer! I looked around to see if anyone else had noticed and the young boy across from me had. There was a very slight acknowledgement to each other but where I wanted to burst out laughing, I think his decorum was much more in control than mine.

A few stops later Fiona jumped on and thank goodness it was the first thing she noticed. We did the acknowledgemnent "do you see what I see?" and she sat down. We couldn't stop looking at him. Another lady got on and sat opposite us, we acknowledged with a little smirk and went about our conversations all the while trying not to giggle and sneaking glances to see if he had woken up.

We had to get off the tram but when we quickly blurted out "did you see that?", "what was he doing?", "I was trying not to laugh!", "I couldn't stop looking at him!", "I've never seen someone do that before." I thought maybe he was deaf but then I realised he couldn't be as he had the earphones in. My only theory was quickly thrown out.

If anyone can shed some light on WHY someone would put their MP3 player, IPOD or any other such item in their mouth, please oh please let us know. In the meantime, take a look around next time you are out and about, it may just brighten your day.

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