Cell phone etiquette (con’t)
One thing I forgot to include in my blog on cell phone
etiquette was answering your cell phone while in class. I
guess the reason I skipped this one is because it is so very
wrong that surely no one would ever do it. Wrong. I witnessed
this stupidity myself. A girl that sits next to me in one of my
literature classes answered her phone to tell the caller that she
was in class. Are you kidding me? What makes this worse is that
she had just asked the professor something and he was in the
middle of an explanation. She ducked behind the girl in front of
her and had her little conversation, and didn’t give a second thought
to the situation. Can I just say.. what an idiot. Just because a phone
rings does NOT mean it has to be answered. Come on. Let’s use a little
better judgment on appropriate times to talk on cell phones.
Nothing but the truth..
The conversation in my Nonfiction class today was truth. It
was of course directed at the genre of nonfiction and where the
lines of truth and the writer’s perspective get blurred, but it
made me ponder my own personal truths and their origins. I
haven’t made up my mind yet. Is it truth when it is ingrained so
deeply into your being that you cannot accept another explanation?
Does something become truth because there are facts to back it
up, and if there are no facts, can it ever be a truth? I believe there
is no universal truth. Even when someone is reporting the facts, they
are swayed by their perspective. When someone is taking a picture,
there are images left out of the picture, and those again depend on the
person behind the camera. How do I define truth? And if I do, do I
have to defend it as well? Is it enough to say, “this is my truth”?
This really is going to change the way I view the news, stories that people
relate to me that I have not been witness to, and even my own judgments
on situations that I find myself in. And all this time I thought the
truth would set me free. Sure.
Cell phone etiquette
While sitting in the doctor’s office the other day, I was lucky enough to hear a woman’s
cell phone conversation. Yes, I was privy to the going’s on in her personal life and
how deeply she was affected by her boyfriend’s lack of maturity that caused him to kiss
another girl in a bar. Lack of maturity. I’m thinking more along the lines of respect.
Anyway, I cannot believe that people do this. It is rude. It is disruptive. It is space rape.
I hate that people do not practice cell phone etiquette. I think I might start a page about
cell phone conversations that I hear every day and see how many I rack up by this time
next year. Come on Margaret, go out into the hallway and tell Donna how you will get
even with this cheating loser.
I think cell phones are great, and in some cases they are a necessity. I also think there
is a responsibility that comes with them. It is a gentle mix of manners and common
sense. Turn your phone off before entering buildings. Especially libraries and funeral
homes. Have intimate conversations in private. Do not talk on the phone while you
order food at the drive-thru, do your banking, or pay for groceries at Kroger. Turn
down your obnoxious ring tone. It is not really music. Or even enjoyable. Lastly, do not
yell in to the phone when you cannot hear the person on the other end. This will not
help you hear him or her better. It makes you look ridiculous.
Forty three
While “Stumbling” the other day, I came across a picture taken by
someone I knew many years ago who has become a photographer.
I looked up his website and checked out his work which was pretty
good really. There were also a few pictures of people who I called
friends about 25 years ago. Ironically, this happened the week of
my 43rd birthday, so I took it as a sign from the universe that it was
time for some reflection. I have to say, it was slightly painful, and a
little absurd, but I am so glad I jumped right in there and got shit all
over my boots, because I learned valuable things about myself. It
also showed me how fortunate I am to share my life with amazing
friends who love and inspire me. I know it sounds a little “Lifetime”
but without the people who make up my world, I believe my life
experiences would be bland and limited and sad. The friends I picked
as a teenager were not the inspirational type. They weren’t even the
sober type most of the time. Some of them were downright rotten. Of
course, I was not the same person back then. As a matter of fact, I was
a major asshole until my late 20s, so I guess that’s just the way things go.
All of that is best left where it is…in the far corners of an aging memory.
I think it is awesome that our mind knows as we grow older we don’t
want to remember our days of assholishness, and gently obscures those
memories so that we can focus on better things. I say, even if I am only
focusing on a piece of birthday cake, I have made progress.
