5 Thoughts: Toward a Relational Taxonomy

0. THAT’S MY $5-WORDS WAY TO describe a long-held observation regarding how and why people get along together — and sometimes don’t.

1. Here it is: I believe we can interact with each other in one of three ways: Click, Anti-Click, and Clickless.

2. Click: A strong, often instantaneous, mutual correspondence. Has the potential to blossom into steadfast friendship and/or love.

3. Anti-Click: A strong, often rabid, mutual aversion. Has the potential to go awry in all sorts of ugly ways.

4. Clickless: No matter what, and try as you might, you just can’t make a connection for good or ill. Has nothing to do with shared interests, familial bonds, decency of character or lack thereof; there’s just “no there there.” Perhaps the saddest of the three, it is also certainly the most inexplicable.

5. It should be pointed out that these are dynamic descriptors, not static ones: they can morph one into another with the passage of time, much like overplayed songs or musics that never lose their allure. Why does this occur, and what are its roots? Let me know in the comments below!