Sneak Preview

Sneaks are not only those in dark derbies lurking in long capes drawn up to their noses, but also ordinary, regular people. They are neighbours, relatives, businesses, "friends", fellow workers. I have known some who drive long distances just to take furtive looks at a new home or car, their curiosity unable to wait for the inevitable invitation. Others take long walks past their target victims as they hide behind dark glasses thinking their disguises will be undetected. There are sneaks who read license plates and note locations. Some use social media to satisfy their curiosities. We all know what happens to curious cats and that, despite the saying, their satisfactions are seldom entirely sated. We are filled with a need to know about our peers. What makes them tick, where do they reside, who are they with, when do they go about, how do they maintain themselves as we know them? Why do we care about the who, what, how, where, when, why of anyone? It isn't about them; it's all about us. We sneaks, and we are all guilty, other than the ego-centrists out there who focus only on themselves and no one else, are simply trying to find out how we fit in this world. Sneaks are sneaking around because their true need is to learn if they are a working part of the system we call living-a-life and how that compares with our fellow man. Sneaks want to know in their estimation, if their dwelling is a good as The Jones's and their friends are as interesting and their job is as status appropriate and their appearance is competitive. On and on. There are as many reasons as there are reasons at all. What do you do when you are under this kind of scrutiny? Do you change all your passwords, re-route your movements about town, pull down your blinds  and hide in your "gated community" digs? No. You just ignore it  as a normal human aberration just as you would try to tolerate the neighbour's barking dog, noisy kids, or the beeps to see if the car is really locked habit. What else effectively can you do? We are all fraught with curiosity and that is precisely the formula for our overall progress as human creatures. We want to know; we have to know. And we are jolly-well going to find out. But the sneaks that are the worst kind, are the ones up-close and personal. They are the eerie sort who draw you in with their "friendship" hugging, cloying, cooing words and familiar pats designed to convince you that they are truly your alter ego. These sorts are the bad sneaks who, when you find out their true colours, know that they have used the proverbial honey and not the sticky paper. They conned you and you revealed all of your most personal thoughts and aspirations. They've heard your strengths and know your weaknesses. How? You told them! Once you have been charmed by these sorts and felt their poisons, you are left wiser and from that moment on, infinitely more cautious. The good, the bad and the ugly ones all teach us their lessons but whatever its tactics, the sneak will ever be among us.