The other night I asked a friend who just returned from Zanzibar to describe one thing she learned. Her response: if you look an approaching, possibly deadly coyote dead center in its eye, it will bolt faster than you can say bolt. It got me thinking: have we become coyotes?
I like to keep my eyes open. I like to look at things: pretty things, pretty people, ugly things, ugly people. All things. I like to look people in the eye. But no one looks back at me. Why? Are they afraid? What is it about such a sincere connection that instills fear, awkwardness or such an impending sense of calamity?
Maybe it's the technology. As far as human connections go, the iPhone scares me. It does. Really. It's not the technology that gets to me; it's what the technology diminishes within us. Cell phone, iPod, camera, internet, computer... all wrapped up in one tight, sleek, sexy package, all in the palm of your hand. That is a lot in the palm of your hand.
We have come to the point were we take digital pictures for potential Facebook albums rather than have the experiences themselves. Blackberrys so fastidiously harnessed to our palms prevent us from acknowledging the world. First of all, my palm gets sweaty. Second of all, we are paying more attention to machines than to people. I love gadgets, don't get me wrong. I dig technology. The button-pushing dance move is in my top five. I can also type like a machine (dexterous fingers from years of 21st century upbringing). But how invasively should machines be severing human connections? And when, if ever, is the line going to be drawn?
If you didn't know, eye contact is when two people look each other in the eye at the same time. One second may seem like an eternity. But it's not. What we need to remember is how incredibly revealing pupils can be. They can show happiness, sadness, inebriation, whether the person you are talking to has contacts or not. Eyes are windows to the soul. Feel the fear. Go for it. Try to hold out for just one second. What are we afraid of? That we might find someone who will not look back? Or someone who actually will?
