I don't do New Year resolutions but I did think of one this morning about how I could just simply try and be more accepting of the way that other people live their lives. I get inordinately angry over things that don't really affect my life in any way and honestly, it is none of my damn business anyway.
Sometimes when I am ranting about it I realize mid-sentence that I am being a grumpy old man and getting worked up about it when really, the best move would just be to turn away and not have an opinion.
BTW, if you have never seen skits from "grumpy old man" on Saturday Night Live, you may like it. It's quite old but I think it was from a time when that show wasn't all political and was still funny.
Anyway, my first example of things that shouldn't bother me but do is a case of a coffee shop that is near my local pub where I stop by for a few and a chat several times a week. The coffee shop is next door and somehow has established themselves as a spot for social media wannabe influencers to stop at and spend a crazy amount of time taking pictures and talking to a camera on a tripod.
These two girls sat there talking to a camera for the better part of an hour. They would periodically stop and do the segment again, and would get up to take like 1000 pictures as well. All the while they purchased a single drink and I wonder how maddening this is for the owner. I suppose he likes the free advertising but from what I have noticed, this has only resulted in attracting MORE wannabe influencers. Nobody of note has stopped by. That would drive me absolutely bonkers if I was the owner. You can tell the photo is my own because of a furry head that is in the bottom right of the pic.
Behind them there were other people doing the same thing and in the distance there was a duo that was doing a podcast or something. These people didn't seem to mind that a ton of people, including and especially us, kept staring at them what in the hell are these crazy people doing.
I see people doing some sort of talking and walking all over the town and mostly on the beach. A person has a phone on a stick and is just walking down the street talking to nobody. To me this looks like the actions of a crazy person and I guess, in my old age I just don't get it. I also don't like how these people seem to flock to almost anywhere that is nice and inundate it with people all talking to a camera. I haven't yet been approached by someone doing interviews on the street but once that does happen, I can assure you that I will not be nice to them.
This is one of the things that I should just let go though. Since they do not approach me (yet), it doesn't affect my life in the slightest. Plus I suppose if I were to try to find a benefit the coffee shop next door does bring in some pretty good looking eye-candy on a regular basis for whatever the hell it is that these mostly women are doing.
Next up is something that makes me mad because it was such an enormous part of our lives for a year and a half or so.
I do not know this person and I was careful to not fully expose him because even though I think he is a moron, I am not out here trying to shame anyone in particular.
When the "mask debate" was going on back in 2000 and I think it was still going on in 2021, I sat by and didn't participate because if you are in a communist country and the government states there is a mask mandate, I can assure you this is not a suggestion. If you don't comply you will get in a lot of trouble. Whether or not the science is there is irrelevant. When the communist government says "jump" you fucking jump. That's all there is to it.
That's a long time behind us though and if this guy that was in the middle of a busy pub was truly scared of some sort of airborne pathogen I think the first phase in avoiding it would probably to be to NOT go to a busy pub.
Then a bit later on he and his friend moved to another table and he took the mask off to drink, then put it back on.
He also was putting his hands all over his face at that point as well. After he was done with a few sips of his drink he put his mask back on until his food arrived, then he put it back on.
This, even when the big-bad-virus was floating around, always seemed like absolute madness to me. If you believe that there is a real airborne danger there, and this guy clearly does seeing as how there are zero regulations about this sort of thing now, then popping the mask on and off periodically would kind of negate wearing it in the first place. If you are afraid pathogens landing on something that you are touching I think the last thing you would want to do is immediately put your hands all over your mouth and nose.
I think the only excuse the guy could really have here that would placate my senses would be if he has some sort of majestically horrible pimple or cold sore, and he wants to hide it as much as he can. if that is the case I still think that not going to a busy pub would be a better plan.
There are a ton of local people that ride around with masks on on their bikes and all I can say is "I guess!"
But here again we see a situation that in not way affects my life at all and therefore I should simply let it go. You want to do a speech in the middle of a cafe, well do it quietly enough and don't bother other people and I say go for it. You want to wear a mask, I'll keep my opinions about whether or not the mask actually does anything to myself and just live and let live.
I have no New Year Resolution but it occurred to me on January 4th, that maybe it might be a good time to just make a change about my attitude in general. Getting upset about these things is not going to change them. The only thing it is going to change in my own happiness. I think in the future I should just say "bless!" and move on with my life.
I think we would all probably be better off if we did exactly the same thing.