I think I’ve just been a party to a social awakening. I was the one that woke up!
Just under an hour ago, I dropped my 15yo son off for his shift at McDonalds. I needed a couple of things for dinner so popped into Aldi to get my suppplies. I returned to my car and was driving through the carpark to go home when, as I turned down a lane of the carpark to get to the exit, a young fellow in a silver car coming the other way gave me the finger for no reason that I can immediately figure out.
From my quick look of this fellow, I would estimate that he is from Generation Z. Now I’m only guessing with that but whatever the case, I felt a lot of disappointment at that moment. It was not because he had given me the finger – my new motto is that what other people think of me is none of my business. What disappointed me the most was the absence of any reason for him to do that. I was not close to hitting his car. I did not gesture to him in any way. It’s raining so I was being cautious in the crowded carpark. So it got me wondering why this interaction – if you can call it that – happened the way it did.
First of all, I didn’t recognise the young man so I clearly do not know him and as such do not know his personal or life circumstances. I don’t know if he had already had a bad start to his day, but instead of speculating on that – and giving the finger in return – I pondered about how society is today and how it has evolved to where it is now.
How did I do that? I consulted Dr Google of course, to firstly learn all the ages of each generation.
I myself am a member of Generation X, having been born in 1966. My 2 kids are both from Generation Z, born in 2006 and 2008 respectively. I got to thinking how different we are in our attitudes to certain issues, as well as how compassionate (or not!) we each are. All the albeit brief research I have done since The Carpark Incident this morning has taught me a few things about our intrinsic differences and made me more aware of things about my kids that I did not realise before.
I am a pacifist and a very sensitive person. I am compassionate and seeing others struggle during times of adversity tugs at my heart strings. I never had the internet or any mobile devices growing up, so any interactions I had were with people. Now being a shy person by nature, I was never the life of the party and just hung in the background, but as I’ve gotten older – and definitely since I’ve suffered the wrench of separation and divorice – I have evolved into a person that is far more resilient than I ever would have given myself credit for. That is something that I am proud of and try to use in every interaction I have.
This leads me to what I thought about after receiving The Finger. As tempting as it was to reciprocate the gesture, I am glad that I resisted because, seriously, what is the point in perpetuating animosity? I don’t know the chap, I will probably never see him or his distinctive silver car again, but even if I did would I say anything to him to ascertain why? Thankfully I answered myself in the negative and took a learning from the interaction. I was honest with myself because I knew that back when I was his age, let’s say early 20’s, I might have done the same thing, for no other reason than I was pissed off with the world.
So what is the lesson I taught myself this morning? To stay compassionate and sensitive and to understand that there is no point in getting upset and angry over little things like tight spaces in supermarket carparks. I am proud of my lack of reaction to this young man and I only hope that I can teach my children to treat all people they come across with respect and understanding – once they get their heads up from their devices!
Health-your-self.com 