Cloaked

Today at lunch we got to sit outside, because it was sunny and pretty and the air didn’t smell too bad. It did that later. One thing about the city where we work, once the weather warms up, it stinks. Luckily, this smell has not carried over to the city where we live. One of the major reasons I don’t want to live in the city where we work is the smell. There are many other reasons, but this is a big one.

We’re sitting there in the sun, eating, and I said something about one of the people we work with. Not a bad thing, just repeating a story where they did something mildly foolish. Then I went on to say that the thing they did doesn’t influence my feelings about them, and in fact, I don’t really have any feelings about them at all. The person is a coworker, and I don’t know much about them, and I don’t care to know much about them one way or another, and this results in the fact that I don’t like them or dislike them. No attachment.

“You know, I do know exactly what you mean, but that would drive a lot of people absolutely nuts,” says Hub to me. “Most people want you to like them.”

“Yeah, but I don’t. I don’t really care one way or another about people I don’t know. When I get to know them, then I might have some feelings about them, but otherwise…”

“They’re stealth. They slip right under the radar.”

“Exactly. I don’t know why anyone would feel badly about that, or why they’d want some kind of emotional response out of me. What if I don’t like them? Isn’t being invisible better than being disliked?”

“Not to some. They want a response.”

“Not me. Stealth is good.”