I missed the class that addressed healthy intimacy and boundaries. It was not part of the curriculum on the Do It For Me Bus. What I have learned is that there are levels of intimacy with one another depending on the situation and considering the capacity of everyone involved.
Small talk is one level. Chat about the weather or a smile with a stranger is appropriate as a place to begin, leaving it at that.
The next level is introducing oneself to a familiar face or while sharing an experience. Some small talk and that is about it.
Political views, religion, Income Level, Marital Status, Residence, place of Employ all come later. We do not have to share our life story with anyone who walks up to us on the street, or even on the first date. It is dangerous personally as well as dangerous for other people in our lives, our loved ones.
I think this is why I am sooo creeped out by facebook and the whole social networking craze and why I do not participate. There is no reason for me to put us all out there for the world to see. There is no reason for me to know that much about you.
If you are interested and fascinated about me, get ahold of me and we can talk things through. If you are somewhat sane and reasonably discrete, I will confide information to you and we will have fun. I am not about to put it all on a facebook web page, for whatever purpose literally, anyone may have.
We just need to do a little work, take some initiative, reach out and get to know each other and figure things out. That’s all.
This seems appropriate.