Hello Internet. It's been a while since I've blogged but I thought it was time to re enter the arena. A lot of things have been floating around in my head, thus why I started this new blog, Sozial Kritiker. Here we'll talk about various things dealing with society, like how much people suck at driving, the move from community to individualist, and lack of common courtesy. My hope is to start a conversation, either here or just within yourself.
Today's topic deal's with lack of common courtesy.
Yesterday I was in a funeral procession. My dad's uncle died and we were on our way to the graveyard. It was a 20 some-odd minute drive through St. Joe. About 2 minutes in, I started to noticed that some people were pulling off the side of the road (the oncoming traffic) and stopping. Some weren't. In fact, some flew by. Now granted, given that it's winter and the roads aren't as responsive as they would be without snow/ice, I can understand people not stopping abruptly. That'd be unsafe really. But it makes you wonder how some people can stop somewhere but others simply drive around. As we continued on our way, it started to eat at me how people were just flying by, seemingly in such a hurry.
Think about this. You've probably been the oncoming traffic before passing a funeral procession. If you stopped, how much of your time was taken up? Realistically, probably something like 2 minutes. And that's a generous number. The question that kept repeating itself every time someone flew by, "are we in such a hurry?".
I mean, I know we're living in a completely me-centered society and it's damn near impossible to give two shits about anyone anymore, let alone have time for them, but are we so involved with ourselves, that taking 2 minutes to pause out of respect is a burden to our schedules?
I live in a smaller town. And this rushed feeling exists here. I can only imagine what that feels like on a daily basis in a place like Chicago.
Here's the point. I think we are in too much of a hurry nowadays. That's why we ignore a stranded driver on the road needing assistance. That's why we get pissed when we're stuck in traffic, or when our train arrives 5 minutes later than scheduled. That's why there's road rage (granted, some people suck at driving, but that's another post for another time). That's why there's impatience.
Because things don't function at the rate of me. Anything slower is an inconvenience.
So the next time you're given the chance to slow down, take it. Discuss, and until next time.
