This topic could probably fill a composition notebook with my introspection alone. I’d rather not think about how much more others who have to deal with me every day could add to it. Since it’s such a vast subject, I’m only going to discuss it mostly in regards to something I do nearly every day: walking.
I have such an incredibly low tolerance for inconvenience while walking. Part of this stems from the fact that I walk much faster than most people (a secret source of pride when I’m walking alone and I’m told walking fast is good for the heart). I’m also bizarrely competitive when it comes to having people a few feet in front of me. The thought that they may eventual become an obstacle for me to overcome drives me not to want, but to need to pass them. God forbid there is a group of people stretching across the entire sidewalk. Needless to say, I’m not the cheeriest looking person while walking alone (especially looking as gruff as I do now).
Given my state while walking, one can imagine my reaction to people not paying attention to what they are doing. Cell phones (items I kind of hate in general) and iPods draw my ire instantly if I catch a person staring down out them instead of watching where they are heading. My biggest pet peeve is when people don’t understand that they should walk on the sidewalk like they would drive on the street: keep to the right. It just makes things simpler. That way, us speedy types don’t have to slalom through a see of distracted pedestrians. And don’t get me started on having to walk behind people who swerve all over the place
Of course, I’m really no different than any of these people. I catch myself on the phone (damn it for its usefulness!!!). I’m always checking song titles and if I’ve rated a song on my iPod. Hell, I even slip up and end up walking in the middle to left side of the sidewalk (I try my best to us the seams in the sidewalk to guide me on a straight and true path). So clearly, I’m a hypocrite. How can I get so annoyed at people for doing stuff that I routinely do as well???
Here’s where the cognitive dissonance helps. Unlike everyone else (bust out your sarcasm detectors),I have reasons to break my own rules. Since I’m walking fast, I must be in a hurry and don’t have time to pull off to the side to talk on the phone, or worse, send a text message. If I’m on the wrong side of the road, clearly I was over there because I had to make an adjustment at some point. No one else on the sidewalk could possibly have a reason to be (unconsciously and unknowingly) inconveniencing me.
Fortunately, I’m not alone. Everyone is a hypocrite and everyone needs a little cognitive dissonance to get by. We all know that we wouldn’t normally act against our normal principles unless we had a really good reason. Cognitive dissonance helps to keep the world running. As someone who values efficiency, I can’t argue that it’s more efficient to walk and talk than to walk then talk, or vice versa. So everyone, keep doing as you do and ignore the surly redhead zipping by you muttering profanities under his breathe. He’s just coming to terms with his conflicted mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment