I am finding myself doing something more and more the older I get and I am wondering, publicly, if there should be an age limit on eye-rolling. There are days my eyes seem to be rolled back in their sockets more than looking straight forward.
To justify my ever-increasing eye rolling however, I must say that I am finding more and more to roll my eyes about and this is disturbing as well. I roll my eyes at television commercials that are adult-oriented but seem to be written for four-year olds, I roll my eyes at the inane statements that local and and national politicians make, I roll my eyes at expounding people do who seemingly know everything....I just cannot stop. For instance, a local business man was pontificating about his business, on television no less, and when I heard him say that an upcoming event was "micro-huge", my eyes went so far back in my head that I feared they would never roll back down. Now American Idol has started and there will be even more opportunities for eye-rolling.
I try to be very discreet about my eye-rolling, making a point to not draw attention to my bad habit, but someone usually catches my ocular reaction. I have also noted that, in a group setting, there will almost always be an eye-rolling partner.........another whose eyes roll precisely at the same time mine do and our eyes will meet with a silent but understanding look that passes between us.
Eye-rolling seems to know no age boundaries. Of course, younger eye-rollers are much more adept at the skill because they have almost constant practice. I try to limit my eye-rolling reactions simply to maintain some sense of decorum, but tweens, pre-teens, teens, twenty and thirty-somethings do not, as a rule, feel any compulsions to control what seems to be a natural response to most adult comments, requests, or thoughts. There are those people with whom I have phone conversations that I am prompted to tell I can hear their eyes rolling back in their heads. I just know.
As with all bad or ingrained habits, I am aware that I can reverse my natural response to roll my eyes. What takes it place, however, is somewhat worrisome. I will have to be vigilant, watching for increasing responses such as shouting, yelling or gesturing. But wait, the Packers/Bears game is just a few days away. I guess this is a bad time to be on the lookout for inappropriate, spontaneous responses.
Ancora imparo
