The Invisible Me (LOOK AT ME!!!)

"Oh, Kyle, when did you get there?"

I've heard that statement so many times it should be my catch phrase. And no, I don't just sneak up on people and surprise them. Oftentimes I'll be sitting right in front of them the whole time, waving my arms in front of them trying desperately to ask them a question (I'm always full of questions), and only then do they FINALLY notice me.

In Ralph Ellison's "The Invisible Man", the narrator has much the same issue (although to be fair, he is much less successful at even being noticed when he tries to get attention the way I do), and he is very bitter and angry by this fact. Don't get me wrong, I am also bitter, and occasionally I get angry at my seemingly invisibleness, but he clearly is a few steps above me in that area.

As the narrator has pointed out, there are some ups and downs to being invisible, and to follow along with Ellison's pattern, I'll start with the negative effects of visual nonexistence.

1. Many questions go unanswered because they are forced to go unquestioned.
Think about it. In class, when you need the teacher's help with something, the teacher can't help you if the teacher doesn't see you need help. Several times I've had to just figure things out on my own because searching for help was fruitless.

2. It's hard not to feel isolated.
Because of being invisible, it's hard to successfully approach someone to become their friend, and transversely it's very unlikely that I would be approached by another person. So instead I simply sit around other people, watching them talk, imagining myself making friends that way.

I'm sure there are many more negative effects of social invisibility, but those two in particular bother me. However, invisibility comes with many perks as well.

1. It's easy to sneak around without getting in trouble.
If I feel like I'm about to have to do something that I don't want to do, I can just easily sneak away before I'm asked to do it, and no one even notices (or if they do they don't bring it up to me later). Also, if I need to make an urgent phone call, it's easy to creep off without being rude.

2. My mistakes are constantly blamed on other people.
Yes, I'll admit I make a lot more mistakes at work than they give me credit for, simply because (to them) when the mistake was made, I was nowhere to be found, so it had to have been someone else.

3. I am constantly hearing things that most people consider private.
It's not uncommon for me to hear people share their secrets with people they trust, paying absolutely no mind to the unassuming figure right beside or even often times right in front of them.

There are many more perks as well I am sure, but these three help me feel better about my invisibleness.