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Just A Thought...
Jan. 21st, 2019 06:53 pmThought for the day...
What do you call an optimistic misanthrope?!?! Other than Waitingman, that is...
I try to be as nice as possible to people, in all situations. Really I do - telemarketers, charity collectors, clothing, electrical & telecommunications salespeople - both in person & on the phone, clients who ask you questions then talk over your answer (usually with another unrelated question), cow-orkers who show me no respect, or regard (as detailed in previous posts), drivers who do ignorant, weird, or just plain stupid things in front of me, pedestrians who do the same - both while I'm driving & walking among them (NOT driving among them!!... not yet, anyway...). Get the idea...? I know what sales work is like... I know what it's like to have so many questions you can't wait to ask them... I know what it's like to have lapses in concentration & sudden distraction. I certainly know what it's like to be mono-maniacally preoccupied & heedless of immediate surroundings. I try my best to give the benefit of the doubt to all these people...
I don't know why... maybe it's just years of social conditioning, manners & an inferiority complex that no longer burns wildly, but whose coals still glow brightly. The older I get, though, the harder it becomes to keep my real thoughts & feelings under the thin veneer of civility. It starts with yelling at other drivers. It starts with muttering under your breath. It starts with throwing, or destroying inanimate objects. It starts with seeking narcotic, or alcoholic, ways of making it all bearable. It starts with constant after-hours complaining to your partner... The yelling gets more noticeable & accompanied by gestures. The muttering gets louder. bigger & more expensive things get broken. The drugs & alcohol get more expensive... Your partner bears more of the brunt of your frustration - mentally, if not physically... how much of a bastard are you prepared to be, after all?
How much can you hold in, after a certain amount of years... decades?
And yet, I still have a pretty good grip on it, I like to think. My yelling has become quieter, my muttering has become more internal. I haven't broken anything in quite a few years now - not intentionally anyway... I no longer drink a lot every day (& cigarettes have been waaaay too expensive in Australia for a looong time, anyway) & L-SP now yells at people more than I do!!
Why? How?? I have no idea, except to think that maybe my pragmatism has a metal-studded, short, leather & chain leash on my temper... if not my misanthropy in general. Believe me, sometimes I wish it didn't. After all, the accepted definition of stress is "The mind over-riding the body's desire to choke the living shit out of some bastard who desperately deserves it" It's only a short step to living in Long Bay, less grey-haired, more medicated & certainly without the worries associated with corporate ladders, electricity, phone & internet bills, land & water rates, what clothes to wear tomorrow, where my next meal is coming from... It can't really still be like Shawshank Redemption... can it??!!
But not today... Probably not tomorrow either
Probably
What do you call an optimistic misanthrope?!?! Other than Waitingman, that is...
I try to be as nice as possible to people, in all situations. Really I do - telemarketers, charity collectors, clothing, electrical & telecommunications salespeople - both in person & on the phone, clients who ask you questions then talk over your answer (usually with another unrelated question), cow-orkers who show me no respect, or regard (as detailed in previous posts), drivers who do ignorant, weird, or just plain stupid things in front of me, pedestrians who do the same - both while I'm driving & walking among them (NOT driving among them!!... not yet, anyway...). Get the idea...? I know what sales work is like... I know what it's like to have so many questions you can't wait to ask them... I know what it's like to have lapses in concentration & sudden distraction. I certainly know what it's like to be mono-maniacally preoccupied & heedless of immediate surroundings. I try my best to give the benefit of the doubt to all these people...
I don't know why... maybe it's just years of social conditioning, manners & an inferiority complex that no longer burns wildly, but whose coals still glow brightly. The older I get, though, the harder it becomes to keep my real thoughts & feelings under the thin veneer of civility. It starts with yelling at other drivers. It starts with muttering under your breath. It starts with throwing, or destroying inanimate objects. It starts with seeking narcotic, or alcoholic, ways of making it all bearable. It starts with constant after-hours complaining to your partner... The yelling gets more noticeable & accompanied by gestures. The muttering gets louder. bigger & more expensive things get broken. The drugs & alcohol get more expensive... Your partner bears more of the brunt of your frustration - mentally, if not physically... how much of a bastard are you prepared to be, after all?
How much can you hold in, after a certain amount of years... decades?
And yet, I still have a pretty good grip on it, I like to think. My yelling has become quieter, my muttering has become more internal. I haven't broken anything in quite a few years now - not intentionally anyway... I no longer drink a lot every day (& cigarettes have been waaaay too expensive in Australia for a looong time, anyway) & L-SP now yells at people more than I do!!
Why? How?? I have no idea, except to think that maybe my pragmatism has a metal-studded, short, leather & chain leash on my temper... if not my misanthropy in general. Believe me, sometimes I wish it didn't. After all, the accepted definition of stress is "The mind over-riding the body's desire to choke the living shit out of some bastard who desperately deserves it" It's only a short step to living in Long Bay, less grey-haired, more medicated & certainly without the worries associated with corporate ladders, electricity, phone & internet bills, land & water rates, what clothes to wear tomorrow, where my next meal is coming from... It can't really still be like Shawshank Redemption... can it??!!
But not today... Probably not tomorrow either
Probably
