Anytime I have to see people-when I'm waiting in line for a concert, shopping at the grocery store, looking for seats at the movie theater-I get the distinct feeling that I've seen them before.
Not the EXACT people, mind you, but other people who are just like them. I don't know the individuals in any sort of personal way, but I've had enough experience with humanity that I've got a good general idea what they're about simply by looking.
Does that give us some form of relationship?
Should I greet them as we pass?
"Hello tallish bald guy. Hello heavyset guy with a crazy beard.* Nice to see you, grumpy-churchy white girl, I like that v-neck sweater.
Hang on a second, unkempt loose-clothes dude just walked in, I want to ask how his job hunt is going. And if you see attractive crazy-eyed girl, send her over, I think those two could really hit it off, just like they have so many times before."
To be fair, I live in a college town, so maybe I see a lot of people before time sands off the more generic elements of their personalities. Just as a young person loses his "baby-face" as he grows into adulthood, maybe the striking features of personality only become defined with a few more years . . .
. . . but there is one guy I can always identify. Doesn't matter where I am.
"Hello tool, who never has anything to talk about except how drunk or high he was this one time. How's your herpes?"
*Not wearing your Zelda shirt today? That's cool, the "Empire Strikes Back" shirt is good too.
1 comment:
I hypothesize that there are a finite number of people on the planet. I have met numerous replicants of my friend Amanda, for instance- same physical appearance, same personality. It's really eerie. I'm not sure what the finite number is, but I've been contemplating 100 for a long time. Maybe because it's nice and round.
-ERIK
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