blue skin people

Read this poem yesterday. Also had this article about loneliness recently.

We will almost certainly never meet the people best qualified to understand us, but they do exist. Probably they once walked past us in the street, though neither of us had the slightest idea of the potential for connection. Or maybe they died in Sydney two weeks ago or won’t be born until the 22nd century. It isn’t a conspiracy. We would just have needed a lot more luck.

In conversations with strangers, I normally stick to the basics. Not giving anything away. Both people trying to size each other up, not really interested most of the time, transactional. For me it sometimes takes years to have a personal conversation with some unless the other person opens up first. Once we start breaking the barriers itself, the weirdness of both start to show. For some, the weirdness is apparent from initial conversation itself and we avoid each other unless it is warranted, in which case we tolerate to get the mutual goal accomplished and then move on. Once the weirdness start to show and when you know you are becoming more free than what you permit yourself with regular people, you have two choices – be vulnerable and continue with the assumption that other person appreciates, understands or atleast tolerates it or withdraw back to the shell/mask. Most often people move apart before the barriers break. If they stay put and reach the next barrier, again withdrawal vs crossing the vulnerability threshold again is a decider. I guess staying in the blue skin is the safest option and hence there will be a lot of masks wandering about all through the world.