1 post tagged “small world”

You know how sometimes you meet someone and in the course of conversation, you realize that they have a mutual friend as you or they somehow are connected to someone you may know.  Then you both pause with the thought "wow, what a small world!"  And it is. 

A lot of times, this is unexpected and takes you by surprise.  You might be out in another state/country and bump into someone you know who just happens to be there at the same time.  Or you might be at a birthday party and realize people are there that you did not expect person X to know.  "What are you doing here??"  "Oh really??  Shut up!  I didn't know that!  That's craaaaazy~!"

Yeah, you know what?  A lot of times, that sort of thing makes me avoid certain places/events.  The small world, Kevin Bacon shit isn't always a good thing.  No, I don't really have many enemies; I'm just not that into small talk.  I guess no small talk = no small world.  It's just... banal and inconsequential.  I usually have difficulty feigning interest in their lives/perspectives.  As I've gotten older, I've gotten a little bit better at being nicer/more positive about it.  I give them a validation/approval type reaction to whatever is going on with them and it seems to suffice.  "That's cool" seems to be enough for most people, especially if you place the emphasis on "cool" rather than "that". 

Sometimes, it genuinely is nice to see old faces that you, one way or another, lost contact with unintentionally.  But there are also those that you lost contact with intentionally, mainly by never reaching out to them (against AT&T's previous advise).  They might be really attractive/successful now, though.  Are you going to shmooz?  Be a johnny-come-lately shmoozer?  Think twice, with all that success, they might be twice as worse to be around now that they probably also have a more inflated ego to go along with that success.  But who knows, maybe they grew up and it's time for you (and I) to grow up, as well.  There's no hard and fast rule in play here, but generally it helps to go with the decision that makes you feel less sick afterwards. 

Impending small world is an eventuality that we all have to deal with; how we cope with it gives us a clue as to where we are in our lives.