The world is so devoid of privacy that when you announce your want for it, you are presumed dead and fittingly served eulogies in the form of text messages. But I am not dead, you think; I am simply choosing to restrain some of my life. That is not how the world works or looks at things. The world seldom looks at things anyway. It is the mark of an intelligent mind to conjure up a new thought once a day. The bar has never been lower, so whenever you, whoever you are, read these words, remember: if you thought of something today that, to your knowledge, is new, you are among the smartest people who have walked the Earth in this zeitgeist. At least, this has been my observation. All the people I have met who had something to say also had a want for privacy. Never before has the urge to save some of yourself coincided so profoundly with the desire for isolation. They are the same today; this was not the case earlier.
The answer has never been a hut on a mountain. But, perhaps, it is in a man at a cafe, reading quietly, a smile on his face, or even at someone sitting with people they genuinely wish to be in the company of, not in anticipation of an exchange of contact details, or a business card with a terrible typeface printed poorly on it. Everywhere I go, people ask me what I do, and when I refuse to give a straight answer, they chalk me up as eccentric or even an idiot.
But to some of us, it is offensively reductive. I would answer plainly if they asked me what I did for a living, but they do not, and to them, the two may be equal, but not all of us live lives so limited. Countless things pique my interest. How do I answer it, except if I ask, “Do you mean how I can afford this drink?” To refuse to be defined is a declaration of war. It is heard loud and clear, for you are immediately painted odd, but then, you do happen to have the drink in your hand in an expensive bar, and so, you are also presumed resourceful enough to be kept around but at arm’s length still.
The world is so see-through, it’s laughable, but point it out, and you are blunt. Try to leave all of that, and you are a recluse. Try to find a middle ground and ask for privacy, and you are dead.