Famous movie stars and other luminaries have made an interesting journey, when you think about it. Theyve worked their you-know-whats off to go from obscurity to universal recognizability, and then, once they have reached such visibility, they try to hide themselves away again behind dark sunglasses, tinted limousines, high gates, and live the most obscure lives possible. Wanting to fall off the grid, to be untraceable, unrecognized is not only a desire of the rich and famous, but of others like so many Boulder, Colorado and Berkeley, California hippies that are keeping their VW micro-buses on life support in out of the way backyards and garages that no one will ever find on a map. A few weeks ago, I was combing my local librarys shelves for books on the subject of Freedom, which by the way, is a search that I commend to you, when I found a provocative title: HOW TO BE INVISIBLE. Written by a European fellow who claims to be unreachable, it outlines how the average person, with a lot of sweat and effort I might add, can cover his tracks and seemingly, leave the world as you and I know it, behind. Using dummy addresses that forward mail, along with cash payments for everything and tight lips, you can retain your privacy, according to this Sultan of Stealth. Why would you want to do this? Well, for one thing, if youre paranoid about an abusive ex-lover or potential stalkers tracking you down, a low profile, or better yet, no profile can be a big plus. I suppose the same tactics can be used to dodge pesky bill collectors and to cover your tracks if youre a desperado, though this is not the authors stated intent. Anyway, the book was written prior to 9-11, before phone tapping became ubiquitous, and being invisible came to seem less patriotic and less possible. After I read this tome, and I navigated it carefully from cover to cover, I was exhausted. If invisibility takes so much exertion it may not be worth it. And it makes you wonder whatever happened to hiding in plain sight? Isnt that an even better trick? |
