I'll be Watching

Most of my life I’ve been an observer and a watcher. It started in New York City as a subway and bus rider. I’d watch people. How they interacted with one another or how they didn’t. It fascinated me to observe people’s behavior. Some people will put on a show when they know others are watching. Some people do a certain pulling into themselves if they suspect eyes upon them. Then there are other watchers like myself. Our eyes may meet then return to the action around us. I developed a technique of pretending to be asleep while watching or wearing very dark sunglasses and acting as if gazing into space. Thus the watcher is invisible to those being watched. From behind my pretense I could view human behavior safely. I witnessed battle of wills between mother and child, arguments of friends, the budding of romances. I’ve caught men rubbing their lower bodies against terrified and humiliated women on a crowded subway. This role of watcher set me apart from those I observed. I could watch life as it unfolded without doing anything to change the outcome. I felt a great kinship with the Marvel character the Watcher. He too observed but never interfered; eventually though that changed.

Nowadays I have to transport myself and my observation habits have fallen to the wayside. Part of the reason for taking this blogging class is to put myself back into the role. I’m just not quite sure how. Perhaps like the Watcher I will violate my past rule of non-interference and try to change the outcome of things through blogging.