The third post in this series comes from LB. LB is a 17 year-old rising senior in high school, and is looking forward to heading off to college! Although in the real-world she has aspirations of majoring in psychology, I found out that given the choice - LB would rather be a witch in the Harry Potter universe. Her favorite spell? The lasso of fire Dumbledore released when fending off the Inferi. Witches and wizards beware, LB's magical prowess might catch you off guard if she catches you staring...! Check out her her own blog right here.
STEP ONE: Determine
the age of the starer
- If the person is a young child, perhaps
younger than 8 or 9, smile and wave. Maybe say hi. They probably won’t
wave back to you, but will instead continue to stare in fascination.
- If the person is older than the ages
stated above, smile politely and if there is a smile in response, look
away. If the person averts their gaze, ignore them. And if they keep
staring? Do something ridiculous to make them feel embarrassed
The above steps were
written partially tongue-in-cheek, but the thing is, staring happens a LOT with
someone like me. I get it, I do. People are curious and I definitely do not
look like the average person. It does bother me sometimes though.
One story in
particular sticks out in my mind: My stepmom, stepaunt, and I all went to one
of my high school’s football games because my cousin’s school marching band was
performing in the halftime show. The stands were barely accessible, but that’s
a story for another time. So we’re leaving at the end of the game, and my
stepmom tells me there was a girl staring at me during the game. “How old was
she?” I asked. My stepmom says that the girl looked about my age (I was 14 at
the time). I was angry for a bit, then I was just sad. Shouldn’t teenagers have
a basic sense of manners? Why did she feel the need to stare?
Over time I’ve taken to ignoring
the older starers and helping educate the little ones. I always find it amusing
when a kid touches some part of my chair and the parent FLIPS. If I don’t want
your kid to touch it, I can tell them.
How do you deal with
staring?
