Evening star., 1932-12-08
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

Staring is Just determined looking.
Since seeing with the eyes, those
great gifts OF Nature in one Of her most
sensible moods, Is such an eminently
natural thing. one may wonder why II
is that staring so commonly irritates
those being stared at.
The persistency of the act is what
does it.
No one is incensed by q glance, OF
even real look of admiration.
The real stare. however, Is something
else, mostly motivated by sheer curl
osity.
And curiosity, even though 1t be the
first manifestation of wisdom, shows
that the gazer finds something unusual
before him.
The sad truth seems to be that most
human beings find the unusual some
thing which is, alas, displeasing to
them.
They may be entirely wrong, in their
Judgment, and willing to admit it later
but at the time their curiosity Is whet-
ted. In the majority of cases, by the
often Is something or other they do not
like.
The realization of this sequence of
thoughts is why the average human
being heartily dislikes to be stared at
by stranger.
1t must be by stranger, of course.
The world of human beings has
frowned upon the bold, open look, the
continued frank look, for SO many Gen.
turies, now, as q sign of i'll will, that
when one encounters it today his In
stinctive reaction is one of fear.
He suffers, at least in some form
the great basic reaction of the animal
world.
This fright may be only theoretical
but that Is what it is, at bottom. nc
matter how much one may disguise 1t
Why is that guy looking at me?
One wants to know why.
When one stops to consider this
fundamental human action, and reac-
tion, and to realize its eminent natu-
ralness, one may be surprised that the
action Of staring Is met with so seldom
The world Of civilization long age
came to the conclusion that staring
was ill-bred, In addition to being, In al
probability, sign~of hostility, open OF
covert.
There have resulted two plain types
Of this evil.
One is the open stare.
Which one Is worse, all things con-
sidered, must depend upon the temper
ament of the one stared at.
The first type is the one most often
met with, since 1t Is the easiest. Usu-
ally it is an unconscious tribute on the
part of the starer to another human
being, although he may have no reali-
zation of that fact.
The covert stare is, In the eyes OF
an expert, at least, by far the worse OF
the two.
Even the amateur may resist the for
rner by the simple expedient of paying
no attention to him, but he will find
the latter a foeman of another sort.
Evil glints In the eyes Of the fellow
who now and then casts a determined
stare in ones direction.
1t is plain to be seen that he him.
self knows the difference between ordi-
nary looking and plain and fancy star
ing
He indulges in the latter with malice
aforethought, whereas the open starer
Is provoked to his display of lack of
breeding by something outside of him,
as slight as it may be, which stirs up
hostility within him.
While some might question offhand
this hostility theory, there can be little
doubt that even the seeming tribute of
q stare is a secret meditation of evil
Of some sort or other.
This is so universal a reaction that
practically no one enjoys being
stared at.
Even the so-called tough guy" who
prides himself on his bravery, heartily