Song of the Day: 'Ghost Story', Sting
Have you ever noticed that the insanely offensive people, the ones by whom we get so affronted, are the ones you only ever encounter once?
Like the idiot on the road who cuts you off at ninety miles an hour, making you almost collide with the partition and careen onto the opposite side of the highway. Or that bitch who takes the last pair of Gucci boots when you just KNOW she’s seen that you’re already mid-dive after spotting them from the other end of the aisle. Or hell, even the whore that attracts your guy’s attention for the tiniest millisecond by wearing a push-up bra tight enough to make her cleavage look like an ass-crack.
THESE are the people we bitch about. THESE are the people we seem to ‘hate’.
But the fact of the matter is our beef shouldn’t really be with them. Sure, we’re pissed with the circumstances and they happened to get in way of what we wanted to happen, but when we direct our hatred and anger at them, it’s *kinda* blowing things out of proportion.
Think of it this way: that jerk offends for about 15 seconds, from the time you swerve til you’re back on track and shaking your fist in the air while cursing in their general direction. What about the REST of their life? Hell, what about the rest of YOURS? You may come into contact with this dumbass in another situation, unknowingly or otherwise, and they could buy your coffee in Starbucks when you’re holding up the line trying to find an extra couple dollars. How does this define their character now? One minute they’re cutting you off, the next, buying your caffeine fix – does this make them bipolar? Or simply HUMAN?
People, my people, are multifaceted, despite what we may want to believe. The fuckwad who cut you off may have been in the middle of a conversation on his cell phone and wasn’t paying as much attention as he should have. Or perhaps he was a little drunk, busy having a good time with his buddies. Maybe he had just found his girlfriend in bed with two other men and was having a little trouble focusing on the tangible things in life at the moment.
It’s hard not to make snap judgements about people. We’re all guilty of it, myself included. But I think the world could stand to try a little harder to give others the benefit of the doubt. After all, you rarely think about the jackasses again after your first encounter with them. It might be a better use of energy to try and remember the nice things people do than their asshole moments. At any rate, I’d prefer to be remembered for holding a door open for someone struggling with too many groceries than pushing in front of someone in the hallway while trying to make it to class on time.
'And your sense of culpability
is from the guides that you perceive
will show you grace
oh, when you turn to a ghost.' - 'Jocasta', Noah and the Whale'
Like the idiot on the road who cuts you off at ninety miles an hour, making you almost collide with the partition and careen onto the opposite side of the highway. Or that bitch who takes the last pair of Gucci boots when you just KNOW she’s seen that you’re already mid-dive after spotting them from the other end of the aisle. Or hell, even the whore that attracts your guy’s attention for the tiniest millisecond by wearing a push-up bra tight enough to make her cleavage look like an ass-crack.
THESE are the people we bitch about. THESE are the people we seem to ‘hate’.
But the fact of the matter is our beef shouldn’t really be with them. Sure, we’re pissed with the circumstances and they happened to get in way of what we wanted to happen, but when we direct our hatred and anger at them, it’s *kinda* blowing things out of proportion.
Think of it this way: that jerk offends for about 15 seconds, from the time you swerve til you’re back on track and shaking your fist in the air while cursing in their general direction. What about the REST of their life? Hell, what about the rest of YOURS? You may come into contact with this dumbass in another situation, unknowingly or otherwise, and they could buy your coffee in Starbucks when you’re holding up the line trying to find an extra couple dollars. How does this define their character now? One minute they’re cutting you off, the next, buying your caffeine fix – does this make them bipolar? Or simply HUMAN?
People, my people, are multifaceted, despite what we may want to believe. The fuckwad who cut you off may have been in the middle of a conversation on his cell phone and wasn’t paying as much attention as he should have. Or perhaps he was a little drunk, busy having a good time with his buddies. Maybe he had just found his girlfriend in bed with two other men and was having a little trouble focusing on the tangible things in life at the moment.
It’s hard not to make snap judgements about people. We’re all guilty of it, myself included. But I think the world could stand to try a little harder to give others the benefit of the doubt. After all, you rarely think about the jackasses again after your first encounter with them. It might be a better use of energy to try and remember the nice things people do than their asshole moments. At any rate, I’d prefer to be remembered for holding a door open for someone struggling with too many groceries than pushing in front of someone in the hallway while trying to make it to class on time.
'And your sense of culpability
is from the guides that you perceive
will show you grace
oh, when you turn to a ghost.' - 'Jocasta', Noah and the Whale'
No comments:
Post a Comment