Ask me!
Admit it, you've seen this button somewhere, sometime. And I don't know how many will admit to this next part, but I've always just wanted to ask for the heck of it. Hell, here's someone so desperate to be asked a question that they're walking around wearing a pin that screams it! However, as tempted as I have felt to ask the chubby lady on the train or the moustachioed man at the vegetable market exactly what wonder drug they're trying to market in a legal way, I just don't. Its not that I can't. I just choose not to.And these aren't the only pins out there. There are tons of people just begging you to ask them about height gain/loss, hair gain/loss, muscle gain/loss and many more exciting physiological additions and subtractions. But a physical revamp is not the only thing on offer here. Someone wants you to ask them about their religion, methods of Palliative care, their goals in life, their coin collection, their favourite butterfly park (and to top it all) there's even one that begs you to ask why the wearer is just so damn happy!
To me, the pins made no sense. I had not seen a pin-ed person being approached in a crowded or not so crowded place and I'm pretty sure I don't know anyone, no matter how curious they are, who will actually ask. The more I thought about it, the surer I became about the fact that no one would want to humiliate themselves by walking to a complete stranger and asking a question like "I'd like to know how I can lose/ gain weight please." How do you start a conversation based on a question written on a pin? What do you say? "Yes, I'd like to know." Or, "Yeah, I want to know how my lost follicles will return." Or, "Hey, so why are you so damn happy today?"
But you know what? I was proven wrong today. Today was the first instance where I saw a man actually approach a lady and ask, loudly and very very publicly, how he could also lose some weight. It wasn't embarassing for him, didn't make him cringe. Made me wonder though. Would I ever have the courage to walk upto a stranger and ask them a question that reveals my insecurities about my body or my religion or just my way of life? No. Put yourself in that position. It's surprisingly hard.
I can't speak for anyone else, but the truth is, we're too bunched up in the blanket of our own fears and misgivings about ourselves to expose our insecurities. Makes us vulnerable, completely exposes us. Even a small, practically inconsequential thing such as asking someone a question. I suppose I realized a couple of things once I reflected on the man who did ask. One, I wouldn't have the courage to expose myself and my insecurities to anyone, no matter how curious/desperate I was. Two, the man was.
Strange how one question can raise so much thought.
This entry was posted
on 15.4.06 at 9:34 PM.
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