A Swamp of Useless Information: Overhearing & Context

The endless chatter of the school echoes the halls of the campus for 8 grueling hours a day. You cross paths with people you see every day, you cross paths with people you have never seen before. All of these people are going their own way, perhaps not even noticing you exist at all. Here and there you catch snippets of their life. A movie they're going to that Friday, people they dislike, maybe an assignment that's seemingly killing them. And you move on. What's to gain from this information? You slog through the day already gaining relevant information just to pass your classes. You go through life needing to pick up on key details of your friend's behavior to slowly forge an inseparable bond. Why should this nobody to you take up any space in your brain? It becomes difficult to parse through relevant and needless information, so why clutter your mind's eye? Let's say you do save this random piece of hot gossip or private trait, in case it ever does become relevant. But a passing thought in the hall is nothing compared to what precedes it. You have no knowledge of context. What you might assume to be their favorite type of drink was actually their friends, and they are instead deathly allergic. What might have been a fun date they just went on, might be a toxic memory by the time you get back to them. So why hoard all of this junk? Why wade through a swamp of noise to come out with another ball of mud? Why give these tidbits of knowledge more than a passing thought? In fact, to them as well, you are nothing more than a passing thought. A quick glance followed by their continued sentence. A curt wave followed by a speedy getaway. Nothing is as simple as it is at face value. Nothing is more important than minding your business once in a while. Even if you do listen to the whole conversation, you are not the intended audience. Would they want this stranger to just come up to them to remember this detail? Would they want to look a nobody in the eyes as they strip their supposed anonymity away?

Context Need Not Required

The wind blows across the hills.

Friends gather under trees. 

They chatter amongst themselves, eager to relay that day's goings-on.

One brings a slab of turquoise.

They glide on unnatural stone with the slab.

They teach others their craft. 

Others fear the failure of stepping on.

Still others persist.

People wish to return to their dwellings.

Others do not mind either way.

A long day of schooling awaits them.

What do they have to gain from such a wasted day?

One friend lies quiet, different from the rest, watching their glowing brick.

Another eats with sticky hands before the wind ruins their meal.

One stands apart, munching on foreign goods.

Two sit next to each other, dressed in primary colors.

The slab workers play, and the student speaks of mysterious knowledge.

Nothing is gained.

Nothing is lost.

Nothing is happening.

Nothing has happened.

The wind spews its last breath of frost. 

Bells toll distantly.

The group disperses before they even sound.

All separate, all similar, in a place with tight bounds.

Trees begin to blossom, spring is near.

Leaves crowd the ground, perhaps fall remains.

Some way, somehow, the seasons mix. 

Thoughts are exchanged and not stored.

This is the 30 minutes, of this group.

This is the time spent.

This is what happens.

This is the end of their interaction.

Until a new day emerges.

-Austin

Common knowledge; people are insane. Our conversations are ridiculous, yet quite entertaining when topics are chosen correctly. One of the best, or most alarming thing is when you hear other people’s conversations, out of context.

Being normally around a lot of immature people, I’ve heard my fair share of alarming things, not only of the inappropriate topic, but things that can just flabbergast me to the point I may not be operating for the rest of the day with that statement. Not just a week ago, people had been talking about the 9/11 tragedy, joking that one of them was flying the plane. It’s an insane thing to say, especially when knowing how it actually did crash, but nonetheless, they suggested that they were the reason those towers fell.

Another thing I’ve heard over the course of these past weeks, is people were saying that their dads ‘came back with the milk’, just so that one of them could just state ‘lucky’. I now know a bit to much of those people, which I could say it a bit of a random thing.

In a useless summary of this article; people, human beings, are insane, but sound even worse when taken out of context.

-Charlotte