Today shall go down in my personal history and a very strange day. We have just ended a full moon, the weather is weird (sunny and raining at the same time, it seems), and drivers are insanely unpredictable. An elderly gentleman rammed the rear end of the parked car in front of him, trying to get out of his parking space on the street, hard enough to mangle her left fender and pop the trunk open with more mangle. Horns were heard honking frequently for no apparent reason. People just seemed angry and inconsiderate.
A woman inserted her car front end between the car in which I was a passenger when there was no room for the driver to do anything but move in the direction she seemed bound to occupy. Since we would have been hit by another car if he allowed her in, he honked. She stayed in position moving slightly enough than he didn't get hit, honked his horn and the lady stared straight ahead, not even acknowledging him.
Obama won the Nobel Peace prize. The comments on the Internet ranged from respectful to fully disparaging. I, for one, thought he spoke masterfully with the sensitivity and articulateness he has always displayed, the model for our country and citizens that so many Americans do not let him be for their children...to their own loss since that choice obviously marks them as poor models for their children by the judgment they display.
Even the moon wasn't cooperating today. Billions of dollars spent on equipment that kind of fizzled out in the attempt to make a blaze of color and spectacular showers of whatever was supposed to be in the crater. One commentator commented on it not being conducive to selling the public on additional attempts to convince Americans that there is potential to colonize the moon when we may soon need it.
A friend opened as accompanist to a local singer in a suburban restaurant. Coincidentally, a group of alumni from 1964 chose the restaurant for their reunion. Their rudeness to the performers was monumental. While there was a great deal of space in the back of the restaurant for them to talk and visit, they ignored all other patrons there to hear the music and shouted to one another to be heard, standing as though they were in a hall rather than a restaurant where people wanted to hear the singer and accompanist. Management was clearly more shy than I since they said nothing. At one point when a couple talked loudly between the music and me, I stood up and suggested that, since it was clear they were not listening to the music, perhaps they could move themselves to a more open space in the back of the restaurant for their conversation. Embarrassed and shocked, they quickly moved to tables with apologies. I remained appalled at the rudeness displayed in this very 'high class, rich' town. Should I have been? Why do my expectations for more considerate behavior stay high for people with money? Haven't I learned about entitlement in my many decades of life? I guess not. It is true you can't cure stupid. It is also true you can't cure rude, either.
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