It was a short term experiment. I wanted to find out whether looking at the driver in another car, or the pedestrian crossing the street had any influence on whether they looked back.

 

It turns out that it did. 

 

We are talking about a nonverbal connection across at least one pane of laminated safety glass, and thirty feet of distance. There were often extraneous noises, the kind that are endemic to traffic. But more often than not, the person sensed me looking at them, and returned the gaze. 

 

I thought about the potential for thoughts being heard, or at least understood, without benefit of speech. It is both exhilarating and frightening. 

 

One of my recent endeavors is to curb contempt. That may seem like a strong word, but if I am honest, it is an accurate label for those snarky thoughts that boil down to one mantra. 
 

"I am better than you."

 

It can be disguised in respectable garb. Like when I take note of the fact that I put my plate in the dishwasher and someone else did not. Rather than an observation, it becomes a chance to give myself points. You know, in that great scoresheet in the sky. Or when I am ready on time and someone I love is not. It even seeps into the reactions to another person's choices, even if it is someone I will never actually meet. If my eye contact can influence a person's response across the street, what is there to keep it from galumphing a hundred miles? Or a thousand? 

 

It seems much easier to corral those sentiments before they even leave my rolling eyeballs.