To have your mystery and solve it too . . .

How many of you were Boxcar Children, Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, or Hardy Boys aficionados as kids? (Oh, and let's not forget the dazzling Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Thrillers.) I was addicted to all of these series growing up. I read each mystery story as fast as possible to figure out 'who dun it'. But the neat and tidy solutions always left me feeling empty at the end . . . so on to the next one. Like a 9 year old chain smoker. The problem is you can't have your mystery and solve it too.

And it's not just books. The same problem exist with people. You meet someone who fascinates you, pry out their dirty secrets, tinker around with their internal cogs and whistles until you figure out what makes them tick, and then sigh with disappointment. Oh, so that's it. Of course it's never really that simple, but our brains have a fabulous way of fitting things and people into categories, and once you figure out where in you're tidy, obsesive-complusive world they fit, it's easy to forget about their idosyncracies and move on to the next "mystery." The cruncher is when you find someone you just can't crack . . .

That begs the question, why do we crave mystery? Mystery books, strange phenomenon, mysterious people? I'm not sure, but youall had some good ideas: because it offers so many possibilities, because we have an innate curiosity of the unknown. I would like to offer that we are attracted to mystery because we are threatened by it, scared of it. Our survival instincts turn us into detectives out of self defense.

And perhaps we are also attracted to mysterious people because we are scared of them. When we are scared our bodies pump adrenaline through our veins, our hearts beat faster, etc. The physiological response during sexual arousel is similar. We crave this rush, we become addicted to it, and to the mysterious person.

On a completely unrelated note, I find the way OJ tastes bad after you brush your teeth completely mysterious. Why does a bowl of Cheerios taste just fine in the same situation? It's similar to wine after a peppermint. Fascinating. My senior thesis perhaps?