No (wo)Man is an Island???

Have you ever been driving in your car and, even though you're totally completely sure that the whole world is oblivious to you and your actions, you still feel like the center of attention? Like all the other people in all the other cars are watching you????

I feel like this all the time. I think it's my narcissism coming through. (Does this blog include spellcheck??) OMG it does! Anyway.... I often feel like everyone is watching me and paying attention to every move I make. Sometimes I feel like I have to pay attention to every move I make because someone, somewhere is watching! Someone is analyzing it all. I'm important.

Then I come back down and realize that I'm just being silly. I'll turn my head to see the car next to me and they, like me, are in their own world. Nobody cares about what you're doing (unless you're picking your nose) just like you don't care about anyone else. Not in a mean way, of course. We just are all living our own separate lives and nothing's going to change that.

Or maybe not...

I was going through this situation last night. I pulled up next to a car and, without even knowing who was in it, I suddenly was struck with the feeling that the passenger(s) were paying attention to me. Talking about me, looking at me, wanting to know more about me. I brushed this thought off as irrational nonsense. To prove myself right I looked over for a brief second expecting to see a car full of people talking to themselves.

Only they weren't!!! They WERE all paying attention to me! They freaked out when I looked at them and started waving and being silly. Every single one of them (there were, like, seven teens in the car) was devoting their attention to me. I couldn't help but laugh and wave back. I was so happy that they were waving to me. You don't often feel connected to complete strangers but for those thirty seconds or so we were in the same world. Then the light turned green and we went our separate ways again. A part of me wonders if they were making fun of me or if they were just being silly. Another part of me doesn't really care. Even if they were making fun of me, it brought me a momentary type joy that you don't get to feel every day.

I will always remember that moment. Sometimes the world and you aren't as separate as you may think. Maybe next time I'm at a stop thinking that the person in the car doesn't care about me I'll think that maybe, just maybe they do but they think I don't care about them. Maybe next time I'll go out of my way to bridge that gap. I, too, have the power to make someone's day special.