Seeing The World As It Is

It is strange to sit back and watch people go about their everyday lives. I'm not a stalker...I just observe life more often than not. I sit and watch and you'd be surprised at the things you can see happening all at once.

Picture it you're in a grocery store and you see a lot of people. As you walk past them you try to imagine who they are and what they're like. You observe what they grab as you go and how they carry themselves. You watch how they interact with others or how they avoid others.

You see one mother pushing her cart cooing at her toddler, watching carefully, while doing her shopping, but attentive to the little one that she obviously adores. Then you see another mother pushing her cart with her little one and two others holding the cart. She is ignoring what they are saying, almost oblivious to them. She walks away from the cart and her children often, not thinking anything of it...You think to yourself, "doesn't she watch the news, and see the horror stories of kids getting snatched away?" You keep your thoughts to yourself and continue on the the third mother with her children who appear to be a handful. At first she is soothing and trying to keep her calm, but you can see that her patience is being stretched thin. Then it happens, she loses her cool and ends up leaving her cart full of groceries in the middle of the isle and takes her kids and leaves the store empty handed with two upset children.

Then there's the next category, the people who are stopping in after work for last minute items on their way home. They are dresses in their work attire and rushing as they go. You can see the strain and weary look in their eyes. The stress emanates off of them in waves. They rush along the isles trying to get in and out as fast as they can possibly go. You try to stay out of their way because you're not sure when they'll explode from all of the pressure.

There's the nice little old ladies picking up their 20 or so items. They're a cheery bunch always ready to smile. They hold mirth in their eyes as if they know something that you don't know, like they hold the secrets to life, but watch in amusement as the rest of the world slowly discovers them. They smile at people who pass them and chuckle at the little ones. There are those who aged well and those who look older than their many years.

You see the single men walking around, glancing around at those around them with sometime a look of longing in their eyes as if they know what they're missing or with a look of pity at those around them for the same reason. Sometimes they have amusement clearly written on their faces and others they have a distant look. More often than not they go it and leave as quickly as they can.

Then you have the younger generation in general, who seem to shop in numbers. Whether it is because they need the hands to carry the groceries or if it is an insecurity for them to shop alone you can't tell. They laugh and all around enjoy being together, who knew that shopping for groceries could be so much fun?

You see the cautious shoppers, carefully reading labels and checking either the price or the nutritional content. Then you have those who just throw anything in their cart in hopes to get out of there as fast as they can. You have the shoppers who compare ten different brands of the same thing and then you have those who feel and smell everything before they buy.

It is truly bizarre what you will see if you watch closely enough. This is just one of the many places where you can truly see who people are. Sometimes people are so absorbed in their own thoughts while shopping that they tend to forget to put up their protective barriers and personas. They often reveal themselves without knowing it. You'd be surprised at how much goes on at once in the same place...if you have the time sit back and watch, observe, and learn.

Jen

The Aftermath...

Well, I thought that I'd try something a little different this time. As a hobby I like to write short stories. I usually try to write about things that people around my age can relate to in one way or another. So here it is the exerp from my latest creation.


Janie was a girl just like everyone else. She had friends, went out and had fun, loved her family, and was your all around typical teenage girl. Her personality is what set her apart from everyone else however. When she would walk in a room it was as if the whole room would light up with her presence. She was the all around "girl-next-door." With her carmel hair and amber eyes she could take the world by storm. Janie appeared to have everything and to be everything that everyone ever wanted.

Little did the rest of the world know that she was hiding something. Day in and day out was a struggle for the girl, a fight just to live. Life at home was never the perfect picture that people percieved it to be. Janie was the middle child in what could be considered a war zone. Sure she wore stylish clothes, but no one knew that she was hiding bruises underneath them.

She and her siblings learned early on not to get in "his" way. Her mother had remarried a few years after she turned five and ever since her life had been Hell. Her stepfather Bill turned out to be an abusive drunk, who had a heavy fist and a bad temper.

I know that it seems kind of morbid now...but I'm still trying to play with the idea and work out the plot and characters best way to mesh. That's about all I can think of for now.