People Are Strange

It's funny what people will do or let others do to them when certain situations arise.

Today I allowed a complete stranger to not only fiddle around with my ears, but when she stopped I even let her give me a better head massage than Kristina has done in a while. Under normal circumstances, though, few people would let a stranger touch them so intimately. So why today?

A couple of hours ago, I went to get a haircut. Aaaahh, you say. But think about it: isn't it strange how we do certain things -- often very intimate things -- when society says it's OK?

There are women's cheeks I have kissed only once and I expect to never kiss them again. I didn't particularly desire to before hand, nor do I necessarily want to again. But at a Christmas party, wedding, or even just in another family's house, the rules change.

Why do we feel compelled to follow rules that would otherwise strike us down in heaps of trouble? You have to smirk at the fact that enjoying a brief snuggle with someone at 2.15 on a Tuesday afternoon is COMPLETELY different from the same embrace three days later at the staff Christmas party. And if you want to the social niceties more complicated, then just consider the effect of NOT touching someone when you're supposed to.

It was just something I was thinking about in the barber's chair.