Sometimes, I want to slap a stranger. At first, they would be shocked. Wondering what just happened to them. In that moment, frozen in a confounded state, they would be unable to be angry. The first thing to pop into their heads would be, �Now, why did I just get slapped?� People believe that other people have a reason for doing everything that they do.

True, most people do have reasons for doing and saying things, ulterior motives, modus operandi�s, secret plans that they share only with themselves. I�ll admit, I have some plans and motives of my own that I don�t document until they�ve been carried out to my satisfaction. But for the most part, I have no reason, other than curiosity, for doing the things I do, or saying the things I say.

Do I think slapping is okay? No. I don�t want to hurt people (unless, of course it�s well received under the right circumstances). Which is why I�ve replaced slapping with random outbursts and comments directed at strangers. They�ll just be walking by, doo da doo, minding their own business, listening to that inner voice inside their head, and I will say something that will suddenly snap them out of said reverie, and propel them into my reality.

Some people are ready. They�ll shoot back a witty retort, along the same lines of whatever it is I chose to say. Others will just stare, dumbfounded, possibly thinking, �Who the hell is she, what the hell did she just say, and why did she say it to me? Maybe if I ignore her, she�ll just go away.� And I usually do, without bothering to force a verbal reaction. The rest just giggle that nervous I-don�t-know-what-to-say-or-do-so-I�ll-just-laugh kind of giggle.

I don�t want to anger or annoy people. What I want to do is bridge that gap, climb that wall, get through that shield that people put up around themselves as if we fellow sapiens could not penetrate it. It�s okay to interact, is my theory. It�s okay to test the waters of another comfort zone. Walking through the streets, so few of us realize that we�re only a smile or a comment away from a possible conversation. A possible lesson to be learned, or person to possibly know.

In the meantime, though, for I�m sure in this lifetime I won�t reach the grand scale of interaction, I�ll be complacent with my ability to throw people off. To help them take a step back and look at things from a new perspective: that of a woman who actually gets off on interrupting the silent comfort of strangers and submerging them, head-first, into her waters, where societal rules do not exist.

-Barbarella

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