People Person

I love people. My friends will often hear me say otherwise, but this is because the exception to my first statement are people who make stupid decisions. I dislike people who make poor life decisions. Overall however, I am often completely amazed by the dynamics of interpersonal relationships (of all kinds) and how each and every human being that I know is different from the next. You will never meet the same person twice and that is an awesome fact. This is why it is wildly entertaining to me that we spend so much time picking up "HOW TO" books on dating and relationships, or combating shyness, or the various other psychological issues that we Homo sapiens are inevitable carriers of. Personally, I think that psychology is a load of bull to begin with...Don't tell my psych friends...but I feel like if you spend enough time self analyzing and talking to your best friends until 5am on a living room couch you may be able to come up with the same diagnosis that a "professional" will offer you. Yes, an alternate point of view is often needed, but is that a skill? Arguable.
I've been learning a lot lately about how people work. I learned a long time ago that there is no universal manual to the human mind and no matter how much you think you know, you can never place a blanket statement over everyone in a certain demographic. I find myself often in a position of supplying advice, and I've started to instead dispense all of this information; that there really isn't any advice, only living. I do think that you can learn a lot from simply observing though. So much can be said in simple body language and a facial expression and I think we often overlook these human characteristics as trivial. Start paying attention to yourself and others.
Have you ever just sat somewhere and people-watched? I would find it hard to believe if the answer to that question was "no". It's human tendency to be curious isn't it? I mean, if that weren't the case, science would have never developed right? We were curious...about EVERYTHING. We needed explanations. So we made them. Maybe people-watching is a science - maybe not. Human interactions are complex and multifaceted and I love to absorb them. Everyone holds something special in them even if they don't know it, and it is this thing that allows them to give something special to the rest of us. Every life is worth living.

I was sitting in an academic building about a week ago studying for an exam I had about 20 minutes later in a nearby lecture hall when this tall stranger approached me out of the blue. I was surrounded by at least 20 other people in the room, maybe more, and he chose me. The first thing he said was "You don't look shy". I wasn't sure how to reply so I laughed and said "No, not generally". He then told me that he and his friend were standing across the room discussing their plan to make our college campus a friendlier, less self-centered atmosphere by attempting to get each and every student to take the time to meet one new person every day. It was all rather absurd, and the last thing on my mind with Cell Biology notes scattered all over my lap, but I listened. It was decided that the best way to start this movement was to recruit all the outgoing, fearless people to do so first so that then once the road was paved, the shy and timid would follow. And somehow, out of a room of 20-40 people, I was decidedly not shy. Amusing. Maybe it's the yellow coat. Of course the people in close proximity to me were also being taken victim to this strangers revolutionary ideas and I could tell by their uncomfortable smiles and fidgeting that they were uncomfortable. I was eating it up. This guy was making my day. Why are people so afraid of human to human interaction?

It all starts with a handshake.