Ears Dropping?
In response to: Do
you ever eavesdrop?
I'm about 15
words over, let me know if there's anything I can cut.
My parents love to tell the story of a time we were all in
the car on a road trip and I was eavesdropping on their conversation. They were
both sitting in the front seat having a quiet conversation. I was sitting in
the back and I was probably pretty bored because no one was talking to me. So I
had nothing better to do than listen to their conversation. I don’t think I was
being very discreet when I was listening and I think I may have even asked them
what they were talking about or made some comment about something they were
saying. My dad, slightly annoyed that I wasn’t doing something to amuse myself
in the back seat, asked me, “Are you eavesdropping?”. My three year old self replied, “Yes my ears are dropping.” I didn't even know what the word eavesdropping meant so I just assumed that my dad had asked if my ears were dropping. Even at a young age when I didn’t know what the word eavesdropping meant, I still eavesdropped.
When I was a
little bit older, I went through a phase of playing spy with my friend Ella.
The goal of the game was to try and listen to our parents conversations. We
would write down anything suspicious that they were saying and then compare
notes and try to piece everything together to try and figure out some grand
scheme they were planning. Needless to say, we never figured anything out.
However, that didn’t stop us from playing spy for hours. We were pretty nosy
kids and creeping around the house hiding under couches and behind walls was
definitely breaking privacy boundaries. However, we didn’t really care about
this because we loved listening to other people’s conversations. We wanted to
know everything that our parents were talking about, especially if it involved
a surprise like our birthdays.
Now, I really try not to eavesdrop. I know it’s a terrible habit. It’s rude, it’s nosy, and it’s obtrusive. Plus it’s embarrassing when you accidentally look at someone you’re eavesdropping and
make awkward eye contact. At that point it’s pretty clear that the reason you were skulking around was because you were trying to listen to their conversation. Also, I hate it when people try to eavesdrop on me. It’s annoying and I want to just yell at them to go and mind their own business.
Yet somehow I can’t stop myself
from drifting over to a group of people who are having a conversation to listen
to what they’re saying. I don’t like it when I don’t know what’s going on so
when I see two people having a conversation I sometimes find myself wandering
over to them without even thinking. Most of the time it’s too hard to hear
people’s conversations without being obvious but when I do hear someone’s
conversation I can’t pull myself away.
I especially can’t help
eavesdropping when my parents are having a private conversation. I hate it when
my parents are talking in private and I don’t know what they’re talking about.
I know that adults should be allowed to have private conversations but I’m
always paranoid that they’re talking about me. Plus I always want to know
everything that’s going on in my family and I hate it when they don’t fill me
in on things. Also, if they’re whispering about something when I’m right next
to them and I accidentally hear them talking, does that really count as
eavesdropping?
I know that eavesdropping is a bad
habit. Countless adults have drilled that lesson into me since I started
preschool. I mostly end up eavesdropping by accident when people are having a
conversation right next to me and I accidentally overhear them. However,
sometimes I see someone having a conversation that I want in on, my curiosity
wins over my moral and even though I know that what I’m doing is wrong, I find
myself eavesdropping on purpose again.
I like the depiction of your personal battle to avoid eavesdropping throughout the bottom four paragraphs. The description of the game you had with your friend was funny and engaging, though it could use a couple of sentences about how you feel about that game now. It might help with the transition to the next paragraph.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the 'ears are dropping' line was funny, but I think it could be even better if you add something about your parent's reaction. I think you have a good base here, and there's a lot of reflection, but there are some things that could use some more explanation.
Great post. I think you did a good job being vulnerable in this post, especially at the end revealing your inner battle over eavesdropping. I think there is a good balance of narrative and reflection in this post. However I think that a lot of the things you say that you do when eavesdropping are vague or general examples (maybe that was intentional I don't know). Since you're looking to cut down on the essay I think a couple sentences could be shortened for example you could change "we didn't care about this because..." to "we didn't care because". Maybe you could also cut out the part about you hating it when others eavesdrop on you, it seems a little out of place to me (only if you need to though).
ReplyDeleteThis post has great personal stories, I loved reading it! I could definitely hear your voice throughout, and the style of writing feels relaxed and conversational. One thing that I was waiting for as I was reading was a connection back to the spy game you used to play when you were little. I think that referencing that, maybe when you go back to talking about how you can’t help eavesdropping in paragraphs four and five, would help bring everything full circle.
ReplyDelete