Of course, if people look physically different from you and your own culture group, stare.  It’s natural, right?  Everyone does it, no matter where you live or where you are from….I think.  However, some culture groups have made a choice to believe that staring is not culturally acceptable and frown upon their people who stare.

On the other hand, some culture groups LOVE to stare and go as far as to interact with the person they are staring at to take a picture with them.  How strange it is to want to take a picture with a complete stranger?  (I think I’ve done it 1000s of times.)

The fun part is the more people that you are around, the easier it is to stare at them.  How cool it would be to get to know what everyone in the group is thinking.  Maybe that is why we stare.  It’s because we want to know more about them.  How embarrassing though when the person you are staring at looks back at you?? Most times you just look away as fast as you can like you were never staring, but they know you were.  People never say anything though, especially if you are staring at someone while you are traveling in a foreign country.  That’s what happened to me with this woman in Belgium.

There is one person you can stare at though, and it is a baby.  They are the masters of staring.  I don’t know why, but they sure enjoy staring at me specifically, and not always with a smile on their face.  I feel very comfortable to stare back.

Let’s just admit it. All people everywhere must stare.  So, don’t get so worked up when you get on a bus in India and there are 100s of eyes on you.  Soon, you will be the one staring at the locals when you get off and walk into the spice market.  I mean who wouldn’t stare at this couple dancing in the park?

Go ahead and share your staring stories.