So the day of gratitude has come and gone. And hopefully your Thanksgiving was wonderful: gathered with loved (or at least tolerated) ones, sharing a traditional meal, pondering the things for which we are thankful. All good.
But what if there were a day on which we were given the chance to express the things we are NOT thankful for. In essence, the things we would like to eradicate.
I'll start. Here's my sixpack:
1. People who litter. Now, I am not by nature a violent person, but seeing a person toss his gum wrapper, or worse, a cigarette butt onto the sidewalk, makes me so aggravated I almost want to commit assault. Hmm...would that be aggravated assault?
2. Cell Phone Grunts. I know I've addressed this before. Here too. But the scourge continues.
3. Discourtesy in general. This is a mighty broad topic, but let's narrow it to the basics: say please and thank you; hold the door for someone; say excuse me when you inadvertently bump someone or unavoidably invade personal space; respond when addressed.
4. Superiority Complexes. Ok, so Dr. Freud might not sanction this as an actual term, but you know what I mean. People who think they are better than everyone else because they do Kung Fu-Hot Power Yoga-Boot Camp-Sprintathons/eat only organic seaweed harvested by blind Malayan fishermen/drive a Hummer (or Prius)/wear couture/belong to (or eschew) a certain club....and the list goes on. Do what makes you happy, provided it doesn't hurt anyone else, and shut up about it!
5. Hypocrites. I think I would prefer Thanksgiving dinner with a terrorist or mass murderer than I would a hypocrite. Especially one with a Superiority Complex.
6. Lack of Humor. Can we put all the humorless people together on one miserable island and make them watch Modern Family until they learn to laugh? Impractical, I know, but I bet it would work.
What are some of the thing you aren't thankful for?
3 comments:
Points 2 through 6 describe my sister in law to a T. Not very gracious, I know.
#1 - Littering...what I don't understand is why we all just walk by the stuff discarded in the streets. Where I grew up, there was a guy who use to walk the neighborhood picking up garbage and putting it in a bag. My father use to say, "There goes that nut job!" But I don't know, I think the "garbage guy" was on to something.
#3 - An elder gentleman chastised me once. I held a door for someone who walked past without saying "thank you" or acknowledging me. I called out to her back with a curt "your welcome." The elder gentleman, coming the other way, advised me that I was being just as rude, by my remarks, as the original perceived offender. Any chance on a ruling, your Grace?
Looking forward to the next one...
Thanks for your comments, Mr. H! As to the first item, I actually do sometimes pick up litter on my immediate block. When I see neighbors doing the same I always thank them. As to the second, I maintain that rudeness begets rudeness. The person who did not say thank you was indeed rude. That prompted you to call him out, which then caused the elderly gent to upbraid you. While you were absolutely correct that "thank you" should have followed your courteous action, it would have been better to just let YOUR good manners speak for themselves. Unfortunately, it is up to the Graces and Grants among us to break the cycle of Gruntliness.
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