What's behind the façade?

Have you ever been walking down the street or in a busy crowd somewhere and caught yourself looking at the people passing you by without giving you a second glance?
Not just flicking your eyes from one face to the next, but really looking at the person. Trying to see past the exterior into what they might be hiding.

It's scary to think about, but how many of these people have abused their loved ones? How many have had their children taken or even killed? How many have been raped, been molested, been traumatized by some strange experience?

It's funny... especially at the teenage stage in life, you'd think, people consider the problems they are having to be the most predominant and important in the world, and no one would ever understand...but with over 6 billion people on this planet (and certainly more in the expanse- emphasis on EXPANSE- of the universe, wouldn't you say?), there's definitely someone who's been through it all before, and dealt with it or moved on or something like that.
Not to say adults aren't guilty of this crime as well, but it's a thing that fades with maturity.

Get over it.

Instead, however, some people accept these problems and put on a disguise as if nothing is wrong when out in this strange maze we call civilization and our society.

But are we honestly that civil?

It's a strange world we live in...some people live their entire lives not knowing half of what's happening with their friends and neighbors, and in even worse cases, their spouses, sons and their daughters.
People act so surprised when they catch someone cheating or someone doing drugs.. but if they'd taken the time to know someone, they'd have seen it coming and either taken preventative action or ended it there.

A certain Doctor Quinquestriatus really hooked me a few months ago when he told me that he was fascinated with people and their stories.. ranging from war vets to teenage hookers. He'd sit and listen to them tell their tales, and what defined them. What happened to them.
Doctor Q, I salute you. Perhaps if there were more of you, society would be slightly less distanced today.
You see and know that individuals make a larger impact than it may seem these days. A gesture of kindness and understanding can even have a domino effect... being reproduced and maybe, with a positive enough outlook, changing the world.

Maybe a world with no artificiality is out of the question. I wouldn't doubt it- those who know me certainly know I'm not a supporter of the world peace ideal, as I for one believe it to be quite impossible- but that doesn't mean we can't try, right?

People are strange strange beings.. yet this is the whole in which I am a part, so I can't complain.

"Don't shortchange people by halfway knowing them. Take time to get to know people around you. As a rule of thumb, try to know enough about them so you could sign a yearbook if they asked."
Without saying H.A.G.S. indeed, doc.

-CS.

(For those who caught the nod to Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde", kudos to you. If not, read it, and find it yourself.)