Contact

Just so you know this post isn't all original material, it is inspired by a segment in A.J Jacobs book, "A Year of Living Biblically." So know that. Just know that.

In the book he is talking about a crazy person that lives in his apartment building. Although he likes her very much, she claims to get creeped out by him because of his eye contact. Jacobs had previously been self-diagnosed as someone who doesn't take the customary breaks from long periods of eye contact that happens during conversation, but it still seemed to hurt his feelings.

This moment during my reading is just like those moments one has while listening to stand up comedy. Where a comedian pokes fun at the mundane moments in life that normally do not require any brain waves and makes you say to your neighbor, "That is so true!"

I like these moments.

One of the things that has always stuck with me from my one visit to the "career center" at my local high school was that you should always look people in the eye during a conversation, especially a potential employer.

Sidenote: I imagine the reason I rarely ever visited the "career center" when I was younger was because it felt awkward to receive career advice from a person whom most likely never imagined as a child that one day they would be toiling to advise people what career to choose at the time in their life where they could not care less.

Anyway, this one visit certainly seared into my brain that when engaged in conversation, look the person in the eye.

However, they did not teach the customary breaks that happen during these conversations. I, like most people, seemed to have developed this skill on my own.

What if you did not pick up on this later in life? Or what if you just are very disciplined and do what you were told at an early age and always maintain eye contact no matter how daunting the situation may seem?

If you are one of these unadulterated eye contacters, then I am sorry for thinking that you are a serial killer. You just are doing what you were told.

I know this post is all over the place but I am on a time crunch and lets be honest, the topic isn't enthralling enough to required meticulous revision.

Just think about it and next time your in a conversation, don't break away. We can fight this together.