What’s wrong with your face?

Adults don’t really ask me questions. They stare, that’s for sure. I’ve gotten better at noticing when people are staring at me. Sometimes I definitely think it’s in my head, and I’m just feeling self-conscious. But sometimes, sometimes I know.

            My favorite is the “quick glance”. When my hair is up, my hearing aid is pretty obvious. But it doesn’t look like a typical hearing aid, so I can understand that it needs some investigation. I’ll be talking to someone, we’ll be making eye-contact. Then I break eye-contact and look to the left, because for some reason I don’t like too much direct eye-contact. Not sure why. Whatever. When I look back at their face I notice their gaze quickly glace from my hearing aid back to my eyes. Some people are very sneaky. Whenever I break eye-contact, they look, then they look back. Just quick glances to try to understand.

            Children, on the other hand, have not yet been conditioned to be so subtle. They stare. They point. They ask questions. Sometimes they try to take my hearing-aid off – and then eat it? Not recommended. I love that kids are always so blunt. I haven’t always loved it. When I was in early high school I remember I looked down at this little boy to say hi and he said “What’s wrong with your face?” Ouch. Okay. That’ll knock you down a peg or two. Or make you cry. But, I’ve gotten used to it. Now I welcome questions, I love questions. I started a whole blog just so I could talk about myself, so obviously I welcome inquisitiveness.

            We as adults don’t ask as many questions. We like to stare. And wonder. But never know for sure. I am a terrible stare-er, it’s one of my goals to work on. I think that we are so afraid to offend other people that we’ve stopped asking questions when it’s not “safe”. I’m not saying that we should have the complete boldness of children and say “hey what’s wrong with your face?” But as people I wish we had more active interest into the lives of those around us. I believe that we learn so passively. We have books, social media, professors, parents who teach us willingly, all without us asking a single question. Maybe it’s just me, but I have such a strong desire to learn about the people around me that I can’t help but ask questions. Questions help us formulate and focus our interest. Most of our interactions with others start with the classic question, “How’s it goin’?” What would happen if we asked each other more questions, and we honestly answered others’ questions?