Voyeurism

Being a first time renter there a lot of little things that you need to get used to. When to take out the trash, keeping track of the bills, making sure the lawn is cut short, and avoiding the gaze of a potential creeper - of course. Yes, the other night while I was talking on the phone, walking around my kitchen, I noticed an odd shape in the window. I head over to investigate, still chatting, and stare right back at two emotionless eyes for about 30 seconds before I casually walk away into my house mates room where I then begin to freak out. We dealt with and now make sure to close our blinds at night so as to avoid alluring any more peeping Toms, but this whole incident makes you wonder about what motivates the invasion of privacy in the first place.

Would you rather fly or have the ability to turn invisible?

A question as old as time itself. I was listening to a This American Life episode recently that dealt with this very question and surprisingly enough most people choose the latter as their initial response. Soon enough though they begin to reason their way through their choice - well, invisibility could entice me towards some creepy habits, they'll usually say. It's true, but the other question to ask here is, "would it be me?" Does everyone have the potential to degrade into peeping Toms? What is it that's within us that compels us to loose ourselves in others? Yes, a fetish is the traditional answer, but I don't think all cases of voyeurism are based upon it - there must be something else.

I think that it all goes back to our finitude and our struggle against it. We know that we're limited, in consciousness, in time, space, etc. There is only so much that an individual could possibly experience and there certainly one thing that she will never be able to, what it's like to be you. We'll never know what it's like to be anyone else, simple of a statement as this may be I think it's one that hits close to home for many of us. I mean, what are movies or books after all if not escapes into the lives of others? For those moments we may become more than what we just are. We want ghostly glimpses into other's lives simply because they're not ours, we want to experience the unattainable. It all goes back to those fleeting moments of immortality and our pursuit of them... I think.

Now I'm in pursuit of some sleep. G'night Blog.

p.s

I would choose the ability to fly. So much more fun.