Power of the Unknown

They tell girls to be modest. In words and in actions and in clothing. We are told that what the eye does not see is most appealing. We are told to “leave more to the imagination”. It goes along with the game of playing hard to get. If you give a boy what they want on the first date, why would they ever come back?

I guess the same goes for other things in life as well. Not always on purpose, but the same principle applies. What you don’t see or know about draws your curiosity. I think that’s part of the reason I was so excited to go to high school. I got a little taste of what I wanted, but mostly I had no clue. For certain times in the day, middle schoolers go to the high school for various reasons. Band class and lunch and gym and other fluff parts of the day. All these things are in one area of the building, but where the older kids spent most of their time was in another area of the building. This made them such a mystery, and drew much curiosity to the idea of high school. What’s on the second floor? Where are all the other class rooms? I think that mystery and allure of the unknown was what made me stay for the last four years of my thirteen year stay in the same public school district.

Before my eighth grade year had ended I started anticipating high school and dreading the thought that up there in the high school would be more of the same. I was looking at the beautiful boarding schools and the fancy foreign programs available and wondering to myself if maybe I could go. Maybe I could be unusual and go somewhere other than the same old school I’d always known. But then the mystery of the second floor and the unknown but cool started to outweigh the expensive glamour. I wanted what was dangling in front of me. I got caught up in the excitement of finally knowing. Of course I was scared; the unknown can also be extremely frightening. But the excitement of jumping into the dark outweighs the twinge of fear.

Now I look back and wonder why I was ever so excited. Really, what’s so great about the second floor? I could have had such a different life experience had I gone for the glamour or the far-away places. I can’t change all that now, but I think I’ll always wonder. It’s the power of the unknown, the allure of the mystery. No matter how controlled you are, the hidden will always have an enormous power.