We’re regressing.
Don’t take it personally. I don’t mean YOU. I mean us, as a society.
Sure, we’re smart, savvy, and incredibly educated. We build machines to build machines to do things for us. We are advancing technologically at lightning speed, of that there is no doubt. Quantum computing and quantum cryptography are a thing – words I never thought I’d type in my lifetime.
But … we ARE regressing.
Here’s an example of what I’m talking about – something I experienced just the other day.
I was driving through a parking lot, between lanes of parked cars. Suddenly, one of the parked cars starts to back up. The driver didn’t check to make sure the path was clear, she just went. Luckily I wasn’t going fast and managed to stop and avoid being hit. As is the global hand gesture for WTF, I threw my hands up in the air, and waited for her to move so I could continue down the aisle to a parking spot far, far away from the other barbarians.
She didn’t move. She sat there, staring at me, her eyes daggers.
She made it a point to roll down her window and yell, “What? WHAT? What’s your problem?” I shook my head and politely called out to let her know I was trying to pass through. I was rewarded with, “I have right of way, bitch! YOU have to stop for ME!” I wasn’t about to argue the point that my reaction wasn’t due to frustration of having to stop for her. It was due to the fact she didn’t bother checking and I WAS RIGHT THERE. A second later, and she would have backed right into me.
Again, not wanting a confrontation, I simply said I don’t want to fight, and could she please move so we can continue on our ways. My politeness was rewarded with a middle finger being flipped. That my son, in the back seat, saw.
We are regressing.
What possessed that woman to even think of rolling down her window and yelling at me? I half expected her to get out of her car looking like a Flintstone, carrying a club, and muttering unintelligible urghs and grunts as she lumbered toward me. Undoubtedly, she would not be as happy as Fred here.
The sad thing is, this is only one example. I can easily think of five others right off the top of my head. The other sad things is … I know we have ALL experienced something like this at one point or another.
As a society we are amazingly advanced, but have you noticed oftentimes people are quick to anger and impatience? It’s almost as if folks are looking for a fight. You can see this both in person and online. How many posts have you seen on Facebook or Instagram for example, where people make a comment just begging for confrontation.
Perhaps things haven’t been going their way? Perhaps they’ve been dealt a life blow and their outburst is a product of their angst? In fact, when my son freaked out at how ridiculous her reaction was, I told him maybe she was just having a bad day and in a bad mood.
I’m not saying we’re not allowed to have off days, or wallow in anger or sadness now and again. Pressures and stresses of everyday life can get to the best of us. What I’m wondering is why we are so quick to get angry and confrontational, why we have such little patience, why we look for an excuse to get up in someone else’s business to try and show how tough we are? Why is it so hard to take a breath and simply let it roll off your back?
It’s always been there, lurking in the shadows, the ugly monster rearing its head now and then. Lately, though, I’m noticing it all the time.
Am I the only one?