Such colourful expressions (easily readable and completely undeniable) appear instantaneously amongst the people around her. And often the beholder of said sentiments is completely unaware that they are displaying such obvious signals as to how they are feeling.
For instance, when I was travelling on the DART a few days ago, a young woman posessing charming features and supporting a fragile, delicate frame entered my carriage. She was chatting on the phone, and she had a distinct yet pleasant cockney accent. Everything about her screamed "Pay attention to me!", simply because her person held something of interest to anybody who might glance at her.
Two young girls sitting in the seats ahead of me were some of the first to catch sight of the young female, and if looks could kill...
Pure jealousy oozed out of the two girls' gazes, it was so remarkably bitter. Two pairs of beady eyes followed the young lady all the way down to her seat, and even when she sat down, I could just about make out pathetic critisisms made by the girls, vain attempts to find some kind of flaw in her.
"Her eyes are freakishly big..."
"Her hair is obviously dyed..."
"She's so pale, she looks sick..."
"I think I just saw her wiping her nose on her sleeve..."
Further up the carriage, there was a group of young lads, who had been quiet before the young stunner got on the train, but all of a sudden, were ranting and raving about how they bet this school in the rugby last weekend, and that school in tennis last summer, and how they walked this upset girl home last week, and got that drunk girl into a taxi last night... blah blah blah. Each boy taking a turn to see if the girl was paying attention to his heroic stories.
A girl sittng diagonally across from me was trying to keep her boyfriend focussed on just the two of them, a series of dry jokes from her were followed by a forced laugh from him, followed by a swift glance in the mystery girl's direction nearly every time. Finally the girl gave up, and sourly warned her distracted boyfriend to stop turning around.
I too have to admit that, although he had his back turned to her, and therefore did not see her, I was doing everything in my power to prevent my own boyfriend noticing this fresh, young, striking face and figure. I even resorted to looking for help with the crossword, something that I normally would be far too proud to admit I needed help with.
Different people of different ages at different stages of their lives were all displaying some sort of reaction to the rare beauty presented to them. Jealousy, lust, resentment, envy, admiration, fasciantion,awe; all painted on faces belonging to heads that were turning at an alarming rate.
Did this girl actually deserve any of the attention she was getting? Surely she at least deserved better than what the jealous terrible two were (poorly) attempting to hand out to her? And what of the half dozen young men, who may or may not have had girlfriends at home, or girlfriends who they could have even been on their way to see right there and then? Is it right that one person can make 6, or even 7 people, dredge up any success stories they have just for 10 minutes of glory with someone they'll probably never see again? Did this girl notice the effect she seemed to have on people??
Truth be told, I can't even answer on behalf of my own reaction, as I don't even know if I was successful at maintaining the attention of my boyfriend, therefore I remain undecided at how I feel towards the girl that may or may not have distorted his will to live, even if it was only for a moment.
Surely we all have the potential to be that breathtaking? Surely the vast majority, if not all, of us are already that good looking, and naturally charming, it's just that we, (hopefully) like that girl, are oblivious to the adoring gazes, twitters of approval and tuts of jealousy and disrespect?
I'd like to think we could all have such a dazzling effect on eachother, and that we all vaguely resemble a frightfully good looking, thin, windswept young woman in her late teens or early twenties.
The secret of true beauty, belonging to anybody, could be that, while everyone else around you notices your charm right from the off, you may be oblivious to it, and therefore are able to wear your other strengths well, with grace, leaving out any cockiness or self absorbed tendencies. Hopefully this quality lies in all of us, and not just that stunning stranger on her way to Blackrock.
I loved reading this story! It's very interesting to think about the type of affect a person can have on same many other people. I think it says a lot about one's personality when they react a certain way to a certain situation, such as the men speaking up about sports and the two ladies finding a way to rip the girl you were speaking of apart for no other reason than their jealousy. When you're in your own world you never realize how you might be affecting other people, because most of the time you're too worried about how other people are affecting you. Very interesting!
ReplyDeleteI know, there were loads of other personalities coming out on the carriage but I could only write about a few. Thanks for your comment though :) Much appreciated that you enjoy my work :) :)
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