I know what I share here isn't all inclusive to the whole human race but it sure seems like there's more than an handful of people that... shall we say... aggravate those of us that are continuously putting forth the effort to improve ourselves. I've noticed a few things about humans. A few things that... well, they just don't make sense to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about freedom and free-will but that comes with responsibility. Is it just me or does it seem the more humans pop up, the more they just don't care? Maybe that's the reason that some people leave me scratchin' my head. Allow me share some of these with you...
Driving. It seems like some folks undergo a bit of a personality change when they get behind the wheel. Seemingly nice, intelligent, responsible, "normal" people not respecting the situation they are in. Like... Why do women insist on applying make-up while driving? Or guys having the tunes cranked so loud you can hear it two cars back at a stop? Or so many folks refusing to use their turn signals under any circumstance? Or being so damn slow when there's no cause for it? Or worse yet! Those bat-outta-hell types that endanger us all! Or even worse than that... driving while intoxicated! With all the deaths going on across America's roads, why can't we learn to prepare ahead of time and be as considerate as we are with others when we are not in traffic? I've heard reckless drivers are trained in Knoxville and assigned to Atlanta, but I've seen this in many cities. Is it just me or is it like this where you live? Has what is normally considered common courtesy become not so common these days? Geeze people... Take a breath! Leave a little earlier! Don't drink and drive. Stay alert! We don't need any more roadside death markers erected!
Love. How can people that love each other be so vicious to each other? I speak of this first hand. A woman that I'd been married to for more than 24 years and really poured my heart into for the last 4 years of our lives together threatened to shoot me a couple of springs ago. (No there was no infidelity involved. On my part anyways.) She made my life hell for the last year we were together. Now I find myself a single parent. But even before this I didn't care to even see nasty, verbal and/or physical fights between couples... even in movies. What ever happened to fighting for each other? Not against? Is it just me or is our culture taking little stock in marriage these days? If done right it could be one of the most amazing experiences in this life. I'm not just talking about love in marriage either. Parenthood's another thing.
Parenting. This I feel is one of the most seriously responsible things a person can undertake in this life. Not only for the sake of your family but for the community, the country, the world! It's a lifelong commitment normally made (or surprised with) at a young age I understand but what's time got to do with it?! They may not realize it for a couple of decades but these young'uns are really looking to their parents for direction, for standards, for love! Like marriage it’s a commitment. You just do it and do it right! Do people lose sight of this goal? Is it even a goal?.. To release the "final product" of adding another quality citizen into society that parents have put so much of their time, resources and effort into? Or do they ever think of it at all and are just existing cuz "it’s just the way it is"? On the extreme sides... How can any "parent" go overboard in controlling every little thing their kids do, think or say? Or beat their offspring onto submission?! I just don't believe hitting a child in anger is acceptable... at all! Children being nasty to parents is another thing. We've all witnessed a situation like this sometime in our lives and thought, "Somebody outta smack that kid!" It’s so natural in our thinking but I just don't see how any form of violence will make a positive impact. Or... ok you know what's comin' by now!... Is it just me?! |
| Ya gonna take it with ya?! |
Possessions. Why do people want so much? Didn't a lot of us in our 40's+ grow up with a lot less things available to us than the kids today? Did that diminish our lives somehow?... not having the things so available today? The only bills our parents had or we had as young adults was for the mortgage/rent, phone, power, groceries, gas and maybe water/sewer you didn't have your own well/septic system. Today we're paying for services like cable or satellite TV, movie or some other kind of subscription, cell phones or other wireless gadgets and ISPs just to name a few of the things we now can't live without. (I didn't even mention all the toys we crave. Hopefully all them toys ain't just for impressing the neighbors for whenever you open the garage and let some fresh air get to them!) Do we really need to be so available to every one and every thing on the planet, so connected, so 411 savy? How much of this information we gather truly profits our lives and the lives of those we love? Psychiatrists and therapists have told me one of the main reasons so many children are having problems in school and/or with relationships is that so much information is available to them today. And a lot of that is negative influences. Is it really worth it?
Neighbors. Why are we so open to people we'll never meet in person in other states or the other side of the planet and yet it takes a bad situation in a neighborhood to get neighbors to talk to each other? I’ve seen this when the CB craze was on in the early 70’s and today chatting via the internet. Why do we close ourselves off so much? It's understandable if two neighbors just don't connect and at times the wise thing to do with each other is nothing but that shouldn't be so rampant. Should it? Or is it just me? Hmmm... Maybe every precinct, city, village or township should have a Good Neighbor Hall of Fame! But then there would be some doing it for the "glory" of the award I suppose. Which would make it less than genuine. And isn't the reward for being a good neighbor, developing friendships enough to be the reward itself?
Or is it just me?!
- Published 07/08/2011
