Socrates once said that the more one tries to understand life, the more confused and lost one feels. This idea is definitely true for me. Although I love my life and thank God every day for this precious gift, there are a lot of things which I find strange, puzzling or irritating. But what I find the most confusing is the phenomenon of people who ask you questions the answer to which is either obvious or so personal that you simply could not reply honestly. Whenever I am asked such a question, I get extremely embarrassed and lose my ability to speak completely.
My neighbor is at the door. A nice kindhearted single woman in her late fifties: “Hey, darling! Tired today again? A sleepless night because you’ve split up with your boyfriend?” Yes. Right, I did split up with my boyfriend yesterday. Yes, she knows it one hundred percent, as only a totally deaf person would not have heard the way we shouted at each other. And she is anything but deaf. I mumble something in reply and try to escape as fast as possible.
A car park on a rainy day. I am trying to get into the car being wet to my bones. A middle-aged man with a kind smile comments: “Left your umbrella at home, haven’t you?” “No, no, I just enjoy getting absolutely wet! Such an extraordinary feeling”. But my sarcasm is only in my thoughts. In reality I do not say anything at all.
Why do people ask such strange questions? What answer do they expect to get? Is it a peculiar form of expressing your compassion? The motives of some people’s actions seem so ambiguous. However, I believe that even these feelings are good because they prove that we live in the most unusual world.