When you meet someone for the first time…Think about it, what do u feel? What do u think? What do you say? I am sure for most the answer would be “it depends on the situation” . It may well do but at the same time, the easiness to which the reaction supposedly depends on the situation really projects our insecurities. Why do we spend most of our time thinking about what others are thinking about us? Why don’t we ever realize that other people are busy thinking about what we are thinking about them? Why does the situation dictate how we are going to react to a stranger?

I am sure you are not reading my article because you are so eager to answer annoying philosophical questions. Therefore, I will give you my theory and maybe you can prove, disprove, or otherwise just leave it alone.

My theory is that we are so insecure because we live in an age where instincts have been reduced to “vibes.” I am sure when Homo habilis was still kicking, he did not have the word “vibes” in his dictionary. Hell, he did not even have a language to explain his reactions to the occasional stone ager he came across. He just knew by instinct whether the newest acquaintance was friend or foe, I mean back then I don’t think there were fake friends..or as we call them nowadays, backstabbing bastards.

Why am I going back so far? I should just talk about our brothers and sisters in the wild. The king lion, the venomous (apparently conniving) snake and the amazing insects. They live through instinct ( although that’s what they probably say about human beings) They know when to stop and when to run without wondering if they are making a mistake because they trust their instinct.

Human beings are crippled by the second thought, which I like referring to as “Doubting Thy Inborn Instinct”-DTII (I know. It will never catch on). We are constantly battling our inner intuition commonly referred to as gut feeling. We never know when the feeling is right or when its subject to our own irrational fears.

Our collective instinct is ultimately compromised that way. And therefore, don’t wonder why the guy sitting next to you on the bus did not answer you when you commented about the weather. You started a battle inside the poor guy when you turned to him with a smile. He is wondering if he should just agree with you about the nice spring weather and then go back to his iPod or psp, or whether he should pre-empt an annoying conversation with an overfriendly passenger for the rest of the journey by pretending he did not hear you.

As we grow older, the overwhelming internal battle intensifies and we find ourselves so isolated, as we no longer are able to make simple acquaintances. We look for a motive behind every move and the deceit behind every smile. Many times, we may have missed on rare chances to make great long-term relationships, but also at times, we could have saved ourselves from unbearable grief. And just as our fellow animals in the wild, we are not always right and we may live to regret the best of chances we missed, but so far, we have managed to keep our heads on our necks and I guess that is the ultimate triumph. Don’t you think?…