Thinking about this prompt, I thought I might want to take a bunch of people from the past and put them all at the dinner table and see where it went. One would think that it might get awkward putting Jesus Christ at the same dinner table as Thomas Jefferson, but actually, I think those two might get along fairly well.
So then, how might I get a better mix of people to create the ultimate awkward dinner party. Then it hit me. Just pick some random people off of the Internet from a social media site and have them come together for just one night. The only requirement would be, I get to set the dinner conversations. That would work.
All I'd have to do is throw out one political or social football, like abortion, or Obamacare or the death penalty the rest would be just entertaining to watch. See? That's where the problem lies. I'm sorry if this is becoming redundant, but it just seems like people forget common decency and societal norms when they get on social media.
Even though my parents didn't outright tell me, I knew about the three things that you just didn't discuss in polite society: Religion, Sex, and Politics, or any combination of those, which might be all three sometimes. Granted, I'm speaking in generalities here, but we seem to have lost our moral and social filters when it comes to social media. We feel we can just post whatever we want and we don't care who the hell we piss off.
And the sad part is, when most people post stuff, either they're looking for someone to troll, so they can pontificate their side more and bring in other like thinking people, or they actually think they're going to convince the other side to change their own though process.
Newsflash. You're not going to convert anyone and all it's going to accomplish is to get every one just madder at the other side. And for what purpose? As far as I can see, there is not real purpose that's going to have any positive outcome. It's probably one of the reasons that I try not to get pulled into political discussions. Notice that I said try, because sometimes I don't succeed in avoiding the discussion.
However, from now on, I'm just going to avoid them all together. It's not worth my blood pressure and I have better things to do than to validate someone else's viewpoint that I already agree with, or argue with someone who's not going to change their opinion just because I think I can convince them that they're wrong. I already know the answer to that one. I'm not.
But I just felt like sleeping in a little bit, so after that, I decided that I wanted my morning cup of coffee and then there was breakfast and I never got around to my morning bike ride until 9:43 in the morning. And that made all the difference in the world as there were too many people on my chosen route of the Thompson Creek Trail this morning.
To the couple walking their dog. Do you have to take up the entire trail? That's why there's a center stripe in the trail to indicate the two lanes of the trail. Then, when you hear me say "on your left," instead of moving your dog over so I can pass safely, you turn around and give me a look as if to say, "Who the heck are you?" Only when I come to a full stop do you then move your dog out of the way.
To the woman who was walking on the right hand side coming toward me. Was it necessary to cross over on to my side to continue your walk? At this point, I have no idea what you're going to do since you're not looking ahead at all, but looking at your feet, so I have no choice but to slow down to an almost dead stop until I know I can pass you without having you veer suddenly into my lane.
To the the numerous people who don't clean up after their dogs. Seriously? The city puts dooty bags along the trail. You couldn't grab one on the beginning of your walk so you clean up after your dog? Don't tell me it's coyote scat. I know what coyote scat looks like and that's no coyote scat. And, you didn't even bother to at least have your dog crap on the side of the trail instead of right in the middle of it.
To the guy standing at the side of the trail. This is the third time I've passed you in the past month while you were standing there shooting the breeze with your friends and your dog was on leash. This is also the third time your dog has lunged at me as I've ridden by and the third time you've looked surprised that that has happened. I call BS on that look. If your dog lunged at me, then we all know it lunges at other bike riders. Keep a better rein on your dog.
Rant over. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
One of the things I've noticed is that common courtesy seems to be waning everywhere. Where once people looked out to make sure that they weren't inconveniencing anyone, now it seems that most people have a "me first" attitude toward everything.
I ended up buying a new mountain bike from my friend yesterday and took it out on a paved trail just to see how it handled on regular street paths. The path I chose this morning is crowded in the morning. I get that. But I was going up hill so I wasn't traveling very fast so it's relatively easy to avoid getting in the way of a bicyclist. I'm constantly calling out "on your left" to alert people that I'm approaching that I'm coming up and intend to pass them on their left. Most people move over slightly and that's fine as they really don't have to as there's always space to pass easily.
This morning I came up on two groups of people. It was apparent they were talking about something, perhaps the dog one of them had because the other bent down to pet the dog. The problem was, they'd seen me coming up the path. I had slowed down because they weren't moving out of the way and that's when the one woman bent down to pet the dog in the middle of the path. Are you freakin' kidding me? Yep, they forced me off the path because they refused to move out of the way so I could pass them.
That's my rant of the day. And just so you know, I do know there is a lot of common courtesy out there as well. Just this past April, several teachers and I took a group of kids (7th and 8th graders) into Los Angeles on the Metrolink. At lunch time, the group that I sat with all pulled their phones out and put them in the middle of the table, intending to have a lunch without social media. We had a very good conversation, because no one was immersed in their phone. It was a welcome breath of fresh air and proved to me that there is still hope for our species. Now, hopefully, this small gesture can replicate itself.
And I know I've said this before, but I intend to write more frequently. For whatever reason, the first months of the school year seem to suck up all of my time. And just to let you know. All this biking has led to me shedding almost 12 pounds so far since the beginning of July when I started biking.
