I am a self-confessed people watcher. I love people and absolutely enjoy watching them. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t always enjoy being with them but do always enjoy watching them. I am intrigued how people act and react especially to each other and then how they react to the reaction. I know that was confusing but I think you get the idea.
I am experiencing especially fertile ground for my pastime this week. My wife and I are attending an international gathering in North East Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay. It is a wonderful time but has played havoc with my people watching protocols. You see one of the things I especially like to do is to decipher social “pecking orders” from the way people interrelate, especially when they enter a room. It’s almost a game to me like Sudoku is to my wife. I’ve found that most of us do an almost imperceptible scan to find out who is in the room when we enter. Sometimes we want to obviously notice and be noticed, but with some other folks we don’t, as we prepare to “fill our dance card.” Eye contact or lack of it seems to telegraph our motives and intents. Soon there usually is a slow current ever so slightly drifting toward “the movers and shakers” in the room in hopes of being noticed. That in turn forms an eddy of folks who don’t think they fit into that circle. It’s amazing to watch rooms stratify like a chemistry experiment.
As I mentioned, my people watching “norms” are really messed up in this group. I know by sight many “upper tier” folks and yet without that knowledge there would be no way to know them. Everyone seems to make inviting eye contact with whoever is in their path and views the others with almost the anticipation of an unopened Christmas gift. It is so great to view and be viewed in a setting like this where there is more than ample love and respect for everyone. Everyone is important to everyone else. What a treat to experience and see what Barbados, Kenya, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, and Lebanon County, PA. have in common in an almost indescribable atmosphere.
I can’t stay indoors in a nature sanctuary like the Chesapeake. The high point was two majestic pairs of nesting Ospreys. What a treat! They are so secure that they allow me to approach within feet of their perches. One pair is on a platform about twenty feet high, but the other is on pilings that I actually can look down on from about ten feet away. These powerful raptors are in the process of building nests with twigs, actually branches the size of the handles of hand tools. Every so often, they lift off the nest with powerful thrusts of their amazing wings. What a treat to watch them skim the bay for another fish or explore the shore for more nesting materials. When they return, their heads swivel constantly to visually lock on to me and keep me in their gaze. I have never been close enough to be look into a raptor’s eyes before and it is somewhat scary even though I am at least ten times their size. Their powerful gaze is thoroughly penetrating and a bit intimidating. They seem to “see right through” me with those huge eyes and there is no mistaking their hunting and territorial instincts.
I am struck by how differently I feel in the steely gaze of those raptors and the relished inviting warmth and accepting look of the folks less than a hundred yards away. The difference is striking and it is amazing how our eyes telegraph our nature. Some of the most powerful eyes know to man are incapable of giving the looks we all cherish and secretly desire. We have supernaturally been given an ability to transmit love through our eyes. We will each be given almost limitless chances to use it with people brought into our path today. Seize and enjoy the opportunities.
I am experiencing especially fertile ground for my pastime this week. My wife and I are attending an international gathering in North East Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay. It is a wonderful time but has played havoc with my people watching protocols. You see one of the things I especially like to do is to decipher social “pecking orders” from the way people interrelate, especially when they enter a room. It’s almost a game to me like Sudoku is to my wife. I’ve found that most of us do an almost imperceptible scan to find out who is in the room when we enter. Sometimes we want to obviously notice and be noticed, but with some other folks we don’t, as we prepare to “fill our dance card.” Eye contact or lack of it seems to telegraph our motives and intents. Soon there usually is a slow current ever so slightly drifting toward “the movers and shakers” in the room in hopes of being noticed. That in turn forms an eddy of folks who don’t think they fit into that circle. It’s amazing to watch rooms stratify like a chemistry experiment.
As I mentioned, my people watching “norms” are really messed up in this group. I know by sight many “upper tier” folks and yet without that knowledge there would be no way to know them. Everyone seems to make inviting eye contact with whoever is in their path and views the others with almost the anticipation of an unopened Christmas gift. It is so great to view and be viewed in a setting like this where there is more than ample love and respect for everyone. Everyone is important to everyone else. What a treat to experience and see what Barbados, Kenya, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, and Lebanon County, PA. have in common in an almost indescribable atmosphere.
I can’t stay indoors in a nature sanctuary like the Chesapeake. The high point was two majestic pairs of nesting Ospreys. What a treat! They are so secure that they allow me to approach within feet of their perches. One pair is on a platform about twenty feet high, but the other is on pilings that I actually can look down on from about ten feet away. These powerful raptors are in the process of building nests with twigs, actually branches the size of the handles of hand tools. Every so often, they lift off the nest with powerful thrusts of their amazing wings. What a treat to watch them skim the bay for another fish or explore the shore for more nesting materials. When they return, their heads swivel constantly to visually lock on to me and keep me in their gaze. I have never been close enough to be look into a raptor’s eyes before and it is somewhat scary even though I am at least ten times their size. Their powerful gaze is thoroughly penetrating and a bit intimidating. They seem to “see right through” me with those huge eyes and there is no mistaking their hunting and territorial instincts.
I am struck by how differently I feel in the steely gaze of those raptors and the relished inviting warmth and accepting look of the folks less than a hundred yards away. The difference is striking and it is amazing how our eyes telegraph our nature. Some of the most powerful eyes know to man are incapable of giving the looks we all cherish and secretly desire. We have supernaturally been given an ability to transmit love through our eyes. We will each be given almost limitless chances to use it with people brought into our path today. Seize and enjoy the opportunities.
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