It's a little bit too easy to fall into the "default setting". I have no interest in familiarizing myself with the minutia of complete strangers' lives. It would take too much time out of my day to brainstorm potential reasons why a person does what they do, and it's not practical to think that way. It is true that some people have legitimate reasons to do annoying things, but I still don't believe that I will ever be truly able to accept that the person across from me in the restaurant is not some drooling invalid.
I have an egocentric view of the world because I only, truly, have to worry about self-gratification. I know that that is a very selfish way of going about my life, but if I tried to help out every charity case that I found, I wouldn't have time to blink. I probably wouldn't chew out the woman in the checkout line for bringing her screaming child to the grocery, but I still think that I have the right to be annoyed. I can't afford to spend the time to think that maybe her husband stayed at work late, and she had no choice but to bring the kid there. When similar situations occur 20-30 times a day, I have trouble finding empathy. I know that this opinion is very unpopular, and I more or less missed the meaning of the whole speech, but I feel as if I have responded honestly.
Woah, big vocabulary. Nice. I agree that people can be extremely annoying, but I think that "charity" and attempting to be nice, even if you don't manage it 24/7, well I tell myself maybe one day what I did to help or be nice might occur to someone and then they'll do the same, and maybe make some chain reaction, which may make the world a slightly less irritating place.
ReplyDeleteI can understand where you're point of view is coming from. It is good to step back and be selfless, but it's also not an easy thing to do when it happens so often.
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