With the possible exception of my year-long sojourn in central and western Tennessee, I have followed roughly the same path as other people in my demographic. I graduated from a competitive, suburban, mega-high school, went to the big, in-state, beer-soaked University, and then moved to the north side of Chicago. Nothing about me screams individuality. So it would seem normal that I'm constantly running into people that I know. I see someone from high school or college EVERYWHERE I go.
But it doesn't feel normal at all. Is it wrong that I prefer NOT to see some of these people again? Is it a bad thing to have hoped that some of my not-so-favorite people from high school and college have just married into a family from one of the coasts, and moved there? I'll take the northern midwest, and they have everything west of the Mississippi, east of Indianapolis, and south of Tupelo. How's that sound?
The reason I say this is because I constantly feeling like I'm falling prey to the social dance I like to call, "The Meaningless Acknowledgement of Their Presence." I'm sure this goes both ways, so my apologies to anyone who has had to do this, after running into ME. Have you ever seen someone from your past, and out of a reflex of Post-esque etiquette, said hello? Maybe you asked how they are, but really didn't care and didn't really listen to their response? What is it that is hard-wired into each of us, that forces us to have this conversation over and over? Why can't we just pretend we didn't see the other person, and move on with our lives?
We all know that class reunions are dreadful affairs. Tacky balloons, deep-fried appetizers, and self-adhesive nametags. Shouldn't we save all of our innane, "how have you been?" conversations for those events? Do I really have to go through the motions every time I see someone on Michigan Ave, on the eL, or at the Southport Einsteins (when I am wearing my pajamas, with no make up on, and this person once asked me to the homecoming dance in a note, passed to me by his best friend in AP US History)?
But it doesn't feel normal at all. Is it wrong that I prefer NOT to see some of these people again? Is it a bad thing to have hoped that some of my not-so-favorite people from high school and college have just married into a family from one of the coasts, and moved there? I'll take the northern midwest, and they have everything west of the Mississippi, east of Indianapolis, and south of Tupelo. How's that sound?
The reason I say this is because I constantly feeling like I'm falling prey to the social dance I like to call, "The Meaningless Acknowledgement of Their Presence." I'm sure this goes both ways, so my apologies to anyone who has had to do this, after running into ME. Have you ever seen someone from your past, and out of a reflex of Post-esque etiquette, said hello? Maybe you asked how they are, but really didn't care and didn't really listen to their response? What is it that is hard-wired into each of us, that forces us to have this conversation over and over? Why can't we just pretend we didn't see the other person, and move on with our lives?
We all know that class reunions are dreadful affairs. Tacky balloons, deep-fried appetizers, and self-adhesive nametags. Shouldn't we save all of our innane, "how have you been?" conversations for those events? Do I really have to go through the motions every time I see someone on Michigan Ave, on the eL, or at the Southport Einsteins (when I am wearing my pajamas, with no make up on, and this person once asked me to the homecoming dance in a note, passed to me by his best friend in AP US History)?