Highways

I have a conflicted relationship with highways. To me, they're a blissfulness tinged with danger, euphoria shrouded in anxiety. Like balancing on a tight rope, and knowing if you make one mistake, its over.
Maybe that's a serious exaggeration. But I'm from a tiny town off the middle of nowhere. Our local grocery store is in the next town over. So for me, a highway is almost something from a sci-fi novel.

 The thing I love about highways is the freedom. I think ones first experience on a highway is like getting your first car. Its a strong taste of independence that sticks with you for a long time. There's a magical quality to them, the feeling of floating through time. Knowing you can get anywhere with a car and a road. The expanse of possibility laid out before you.

For some danger and highway don't belong in the same sentence. Its something that doesn't enter their minds, after all, there are less accidents on the highways then on street roads. For others, myself included, the highway holds great potential, but also conscious danger. There is much to keep track of and a busyness that can be over whelming. Its all too easy to imagine something going wrong.

This doesn't stop the highways being used or their necessity. However it is a euphoric experience that many do not realize or appreciate. The ability we have to travel and access an abundance of information is often forgotten. Certainly, the reward of travel is worth the risk.

Thoughts, Love, and Stories welcome down bellow,
Enigma

Eye Contact

As bizarre as it sounds, I wish staring was a more socially acceptable behavior. As a writer and artist I yearn for connection in the people I encounter. Although I myself am reserved it seems nowadays that the very act of two gazes touching is forbidden and to be avoided. I've had many silent smiles and glances to and from strangers that brighten my day. A one second relationship. Maybe its the vulnerability of eye contact that turns us off. But that answer just begs the question, why is the majority of our society afraid of openness with others?

 For me, the answer can be summed up in a word; judgment. I believe in the inherent goodness of human kind, however, everyone has negative thoughts and opinions. And for some, the fear of the negative thoughts of others is crippling. But its odd to imagine a large fear trickling down to such a small expression as eye contact.

On the other hand it isn't so strange. The eyes have long been viewed as the "windows to the soul". So having our fears reveal themselves in such a prominent vulnerable place makes sense. And if our eyes really do reveal our souls, perhaps it isn't bad to be particular with who you look at.

Thoughts, Love, and Stories welcome down bellow,

Enigma