On Complete and Absolute, Full-Fledged Rudeness

I was about to begin writing something else, but I just realized that rudeness is actually a part of false reality. Some people are completely ambivalent toward their environments and are self-centered enough to not realize how obnoxious they can be.

The other night I was at an awards ceremony for varsity sports - nothing fancy, but it was a nice ceremony of sorts. Each team was called up, and the coaches would (sometimes) talk briefly about the seasons and key athletes/senior players (excessively-long speeches fall into yet another category of false reality). Everything was going smoothly, until the table for a "certain team" next to us began to talk. It started as chatter which was fine. It was a little rude since they were ignoring who was talking, and it was definitely disrespectful toward their fellow athletes. I was a little irritated, but this little chit-chatting was sonorous compared to what developed.

This team was eventually called up, they did their little go-us! speech while most listened politely, and then they sat down. Before the announcer had time to call up the next team, the chatty table was back at it, and they were going full force. The "ring-leader," a.k.a the person who was initiating conversations a.k.a. rude jerk a.k.a. the person who inspired this blog was none other than their coach. Yes, the coach, who is expected to be the most respectful, was being blatantly rude. She even made a point to turn who back to whoever was speaking at the time and talk in a very audible voice - no whispers here. Oh, did I mention that she was in the front row? In plain sight? Must have left that out somewhere.

With each successive team, this coach and three or four members of the team talked increasingly louder. Eventually, they were talking so loud that even teams that had been talking quietly and not overly paying attention began to give the pack disgusted stares. Being in false realities, of course, their naiveness (still a word) allowed them to continue on without taking any notice. Even when several people from several other teams told them to be quiet, they paid no attention (especially the coach), and continued to talk. It was pathetic.

Soon, one of them said something that they somehow found funny (Do you detect the disgust in how I said that?), and one girl laughed out loud (a.k.a. lol-ed or "lawlzed") incredibly loud.

So, if you are one of these people, get a reality check. Now. No don't wait to finish your television show or even bother to finish reading this. Get a reality check now. It was so incredibly rude and disrespectful, so please do not live under the impression that you're high and mighty and can disregard others. Thank you.

On Terrible Driving

Yesterday statistics were released indictating which states had the best and worst drivers. According to this study, my good old home state of New Jersey is ranked number 2, right behind New York, for worst drivers. This is far from surprising.

In my short driving tenure, I have seen some of the stupidest things while driving. A few weeks ago a woman tailgated me on the Parkway while putting her make up on and talking on a cell phone. She hit the rumble strips, dropped her make-up, and finally realized how idiotic she was being. She backed away a bit after that.

I have also seen two instances of people running red lights while a cop was right there. The first time, I was approaching a yellow light, and it was far away so I slowed down. Nevertheless, the man in the lane next to me sped up and went through the light that had been red for several seconds. A cop was sitting at the intersection and immediately pulled the man over.

The car involved in the second incident was luckier on several grounds. First, (s)he pulled into the intersection even though the light had been red for a long time, so (s)he was incredibly lucky that (s)he did not get into an accident. Second, there was once again a cop sitting at the inersection, and for whatever reason the cop let the person go. My guess is that the cop did this so the driver would feel like a complete jerk, and (s)he was probably kicking him/herself for the rest of the day over it. (Sorry for the gender neutral sentences - I didn't see the driver and do not want to be accused of throwing one gender under the bus! No pun intended)

Now with all these poor drivers (especially in NJ, go figure), there is bound to be road rage. This is my time for a public service announcement. Control your driving. In a defensive driver course I painstakingly sat through for 6 or 7 or 349 hours or so (time ceased to exist after 2 hours), the instructor told us to let terrible drivers have their accidents somewhere else. You can respond to tailgating or unneccessary behavior with anger and retalliation, but it could cause some serious problems. Keep your cool, and let that person will be speeding away from you. You will most likely never see them again. The same applies for other situations. In the shotr run someone may anger you, but you have to let that person get away a cause havok somewhere else.

Also, do not text and drive. (I'll stop my warnings soon do not worry - but Oprah wants us to spread this message. No I do not watch it I've just heard). There's no need and it's incredibly dangerous. Check out this website for an interactive texting and driving game!

-MM