Waiting Line
Lines get a bad rap and humans don’t like them very much. But they are an organized method of ensuring fairness and we expect that. Waiting in line helps us keep from getting hot under the collar if we think that someone has gone ahead of us in line. We often don’t have enough leftover grace from life to let others go ahead easily. If they look at us and request to go ahead with a fairly good reason and a smile, we suddenly allow them to go with a generous sweep of our arm. Very chivalrous. Humans are so much fun to observe.
Wait for Safety
Life is unsafe. Imagine the courage it takes to leave your home every day. And yet, we do so right after pushing the younger versions of ourselves out the door. If nothing happens immediately to them, it is a sign that it is there is no immediate danger. We go about our days swerving through traffic in cars and on foot, adjusting and steering ourselves out of each other’s way. Very gallant. On the chance that we do make contact by brushing up against another human, we tend to apologize immediately. This is completely opposite what happens in our minds when someone cuts in front of us in traffic because we presume that they are deliberate fools and cross them off our holiday card list right after we scream at them through the front windshield. The behavior is based on their lack of safe driving. Or fairness because they cut the line. Or maybe both.
Fair to Wait
If you ever want to start a thrilling debate, start up a conversation about the fairness of life. Immediately you will hear stories of humans who have lived through the darkest of troubles without their own choice. It can devolve into more stories about those who also found themselves in dilemmas through their own doing. As if they had a choice. We know that life is not fair. Unfortunately, there is no manual on what is exactly fair, or we would be dropping off copies of it on the doorsteps of billionaire’s houses. Even if they worked to accumulate that giant pile of money, we want them to start dispersing it to others in order to address the unfairness of life. Parental humans get used to reciting how unfair life is to their little humans in order to help them understand that they aren’t entitled to everything they want. I still want to know why they aren’t. I still think I am. Within reason, of course.
Sensible Wait
I often write about the counter-intuitive nature of life. Life does not make logical sense sometimes. Knowing that there is no guarantee that life will make sense opens up all of the options. It is really a better method of seeing life. When life makes no sense, it defies what we originally thought and requires a rethink or new thinking altogether. I embrace that part. I am fairly sure that life is not supposed to make sense. The actual fact that life has the requirement to not go my way allows for the fact that it doesn’t go the way for anyone. It is sensible to believe that life is not sensible. When humans embrace the idea that anything is possible, or even probable, options can be explored, challenges can be accepted, old thoughts can be discarded, and new thought can offer up new ideas. I don’t mind waiting in line for that.
How do you feel when you have to wait in line? What was the last unfair thing that happened to you? How did you react?
