I’m worried that we as a civilization are losing a very profound skill. This talent, dare I say art, is flagrant eavesdropping. To back up my claim I have three main reasons why this expertise is facing extinction.
Coming at a strong number one is that legions of people can’t eavesdrop because they have a device in their ear that’s playing music, an audiobook or a podcast. I totally understand this and I have, at times, been tempted to enter the grocery store with my earbuds jammed down my auditory canal. All because I want to continue to listen to the gripping murder podcast that I was playing in my car.
But because I’m a huge fan of eavesdropping even the dulcet tones of Canada’s gift to America Keith “Dateline” Morrison isn’t enough to make me enter a store with my ears already engaged.
The second reason why eavesdropping is going, going, gone is much more troubling. It’s because people are getting less and less curious. As a member of the Gladys Kravitz fan club this frightens and saddens me.
Wait, what? Are there some of you right now who don’t know who Gladys Kravitz is? Umm, she’s only the patron saint of nosey neighbors from the 60s era T.V. show “Bewitched.” Sure, we have video doorbells now but that can’t compete with neighbors blessed with a burning curiosity and time on their hands.
I believe curiosity is fuel for your brain and needs to be nurtured and respected. But alas I don’t see that happening in the realm of everyday life. I’ll use my two children as examples. They display a lackluster curiosity about the world right in front of their faces.
Countless times we’ve been out in public and something unusual or interesting will happen and I’ll ask, “Did you see that? Or “Did you hear that?” and the response is crickets.
No, correction. I’m not only greeted with skeptical looks, but I’m also accused of “imagining “or “exaggerating” the said incident they missed. Humph, as their mother, I found this all very disappointing. Have they learned nothing from me?
My third take away is people aren’t eavesdropping because they have a profound disinterest in the human condition. Sure, I get it. All of us lead fascinating lives and nothing is more riveting than staring at our phones. But if you just allow yourself to engage in some eavesdropping you’ll discover so much about people.
For instance, while I was recently staring at San Marzano canned tomatoes at Target wondering if peeled or crushed was the way to go for making pasta sauce I was privy to a fascinating conversation between two moms about their children’s high school cheerleader tryouts.
Apparently, there was some controversy because two teachers’ kids made the team and apparently they were so lacking in talent “they wouldn’t even make good bases.” (A base is someone who holds the “flyer” during the stunts.”) These moms, right there in Target, in the canned vegetable aisle, were planning what can only be described as a cheerleader coup. (Did you just get chills? Because I got chills.)
I was all in on this conversation so much so that I pretended to read every tomato can in the aisle. Then imagine my joy when I was in the parking lot and saw one of the cheer moms get into her car and she had a high school sticker on her rear window. This meant I knew where the cheer drama was going down.
It was heady stuff and was only possible due to the magic mix of eavesdropping and curiosity. Both skills that need to be nurtured because sometimes what’s going down right in front of your face can be so much more engrossing than your phone.
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Snarky in the Suburbs 