Last week, a
funeral cortege passed me by. It wasn't
very long, maybe a dozen cars total, including the hearse. As I was standing there, several cars coming
out of a freeway exit were blocked and had to wait. I could have walked on, after all, I didn't
know the deceased; but I decided to stop and be respectful, removing my tuque.
As I stood there, drivers of the waiting cars forced their way through the
cortege to get into clear lanes on the other side. What kind of thinking makes a person act that
way?
I notice this often at the end of the day when everyone
is just trying to get home. I don't know if it's cultural or
generational. I call it Chinese Thinking, named after what a friend told
me about his experiences as an English teacher in Taiwan. My
editor-in-wife calls Linear Thinking; you can only get from A to C through B. I've started to notice it more and more
frequently on the street here.
I see it all the time at
the bus stop.
I sum it up as such:
1) I want to go home;
2) I need to get on the bus;
3) The bus is here and the doors are open;
2) I need to get on the bus;
3) The bus is here and the doors are open;
4) I'll force my
way onto the bus, regardless of the number of people trying to get off at the same time.”
Here's a thought: LET EVERYONE OFF THE BUS FIRST! An extra 30 seconds will make things easier for everybody.
I am disheartened
when I see people act like this on public transit; not giving up their seats to
people who have greater need; trying to force their way onto the bus as
passengers are getting off, and not taking their backpacks off, hitting others
in the head every time they turn around.
I honestly think we've reached the point where society is primarily
drones, plugged in and spoon-fed, rather than thinking about how we act and affect the world
around us.
“As we
are, so we do; and as we do, so is it done to us; we are the builders of our
fortune.”
Ralph
Waldo Emerson
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