8.14.2002

 

I'm one of those suckers who generally wants to look for the good in most people, and hence I usually try to give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to things that, even to me, might seem a little questionable. Of course, if you have ever been in the car when I am driving, yeah, I tend to bitch a lot about other drivers, but that only happens because I am inevitably the best driver on the road, don't you know. I never take it so far as to actually show my disapproval to other drivers out there. Just not my style.

But sometimes the dumbest little things people do really upset me.

This morning I am pulling onto the freeway, and the on ramp has one of those traffic lights to control the flow of traffic onto the highway. Wait for the green light, it says. The car in front of me never even slows down, just goes right through the red light onto the highway. This really annoyed me.

Or what about those people in museums or whatever who point their flashes at the attraction and snap pictures, either completely oblivious of the forty signs requesting people do not take flash pictures or just not giving a damn about the requests of those who went to the trouble of making the attraction available to them in the first place.

Sometimes these little rules seem a little strange, even mildly a pain in the ass. But I have to believe that they are there for a reason, and as such, I abide by them. People who don't because it's not convenient for them, or because they think a little 3"x5" snapshot in their album that they will look at once in the next five years is more important than the preservation of an artwork or the integrity of a performance just suck.

It' so so easy to be a considerate person and you hardly ever have to go out of your way to show some basic awareness and respect for the world around you. Honestly, little things like this take no effort whatsoever, and yet they are probably the laws and requests upon which most infringements take place. That it's just so damn easy and people cannot see past themselves to do it irritates me all the more.

So if you're reading this, just be a good person. You may not understand the reasons why, but for little things like freeway flow lights and whatnot, take it on faith that they are there for a reason and obide by them. I'll be glad you did.