let's not assume the worst, shall we?

It's funny how not-so-interesting experiences can really make one think. It was a pretty mundane, common-place thing that happened to me the other day and I don't know why it stuck with me, but it did.

I was walking into the public library and passed a teenage couple walking out. They'd have caught anyone's eye, as they were both covered in fairly typical goth-wear. You know, the chains, the make up, the secondhand almost-stylin' fedoras, the bondage pants, whatever. He had a tattoo of a skull superimposed on angel wings, and her eyeliner was smeared down her cheek to her jaw.

Who doesn't stare when they see people dressed like this?
And who wouldn't glare back at them as if the starers had intruded?
I can't blame them. I've been guilty of the same act. Yes, I have walked around in a sleepy mormon college town wearing getup similar to theirs. I got plenty of nasty looks. And the nasty comments I got were from my sister.

But I wasn't staring at them to disapprove, No. I was admiring their art. The art of looking different, the art of being different, the art of trying, the art of maintaining that edge. The only time I dress like that is when I'm making a statement. Those statements are reserved for "I can do this, watch me," and my annual boycott of Valentine's day.

I think this momentary passing stuck with me because I did feel mildly affronted. I wasn't looking at them out of deprecation, but out of admiration.

But then I turned that around: How many people's glances have I misinterpreted? Is there any way of knowing whether or not I am misinterpreting those fleeting looks? Had I been dressed in my own goth outfit (and not the mildly hippy looking one I had been wearing) and passed the same couple under the same circumstances, would they still have had the same reaction?