In 1976, I was 11 and we moved to a small desert community called Blythe. Located about 100 miles east of Palm Springs, on the California /Arizona Border, was my Mon's home town and we had just bought the Sizzler restaurant.
I had spent the first 5 years of school - 6 if you count kindergarten - at small Christian school in Covina. Current evidence not withstanding, I was a pretty well adjusted, social, bright kid and did well in school. the transition to the new school was a bit bumpy, but I got thru it pretty unscathed.
Jumping into a new environment when you are a kid is so much easier than when you are an adult. Perhaps I am romanticizing the process from when I was younger, but it seems like, as an adult, getting to know new people is a bit more challenging.
We no longer 'meet' people. Now we 'connect' and 'network'.
I still consider myself a 'pretty well adjusted, social, bright adult' and I've done well in my professional life. But now, as I go about meeting new people, there is this subtle undercurrent of caution. I know it's always been there, but I'm much more aware of it now.
'What does this person want?' 'Why should I spend my time/give my attention to this person?' 'What is the upside of me knowing this person?'
It's all games. Everything we do in life is a game. It's all about strategy, about gathering and processing information, looking to see what is the benefit of all of our actions and interactions
I'm as guilty as the next person when it comes to this gamesmanship. I think we all are. I don't know if my acknowledgment of this is a good thing or a bad thing. Am I just pointing out the obvious to the rest of the world by writing this, thus exposing me as a slow to evolve dolt? Or have I stumbled onto one of life's great truths?
Maybe both.
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