I haven't done my post regarding the whole end of the world with a side of zombie apocalypse yet, but when I do, I'm sure you recognize that it will be mainly about humanity and whether it can withstand the pressures of chaos, starvation, and of course, zombie friends and neighbors.
I was recently listening to a George Carlin spiel and he mentioned something regarding people who think that people are "good," but that it takes a horrible disaster to ever see demonstration of the fact. I'm sorry to say that I partially agree with that, but, being in a strangely optimistic mood for at least the duration of this post, I'm going to talk about people who are good (there are at least three of you out there, I know it), even while not in the midst of calamity. Or at least, not zombie apocalypse level of calamity.
The other day I had the great fortune of being in a waiting room for local court proceedings. It was extremely warm, crowded, and people were generally pi$$ed off. Traffic violators and various "criminals" all crammed into one small area, with a rather long wait. A young non-white gentleman came in with an infant carrier (avec infant), and a diaper bag which was thoroughly checked by the policeman (upon which he was advised that "bottles" are not allowed in the courtroom). When he approached the small waiting area, two, count 'em, TWO men offered their seats for this young man and his infant. I was completely shocked, and extremely pleased at seeing this.
Here, in the midst of all sorts of baddies (I don't really believe this, of course), there was kindness. You would think that, in this atmosphere of 128 degree heat with sauna-like conditions, amongst the evil criminals of society, that there would be no sympathy for some not-originally-from-America dude with a baby. But there was. I wanted to say, "well that was nice," but settled for smiling at the do-gooders instead.
Two points gained for Humanity!
When I was at the race track over the weekend, there was a lot of not-nice-ness going around. The lines at the betting booths were not very organized (translation: some people were dumb enough to actually stand in line, like myself, whilst others would just hover in clumps and jump to any open window), and some of the staff were a little less than pleasant (like, when someone butt in front of me, I waited my turn, got to the window and the woman behind the counter was b-tching to her co-workers and then turned to me and said, "I'M CLOSED!"). However, I attempted to follow some sort of civil procedure by standing in line and being patient.
Later that same day, while I was still observing queue etiquette, a nearby hover-er noticed an available window; he went to run over, but then turned to me and said, "you go ahead, you were waiting first." It's sad that I'm even shocked at such an offer, but, there it is. I told him to go ahead, since I was next anyway, and of course was there for another five minutes while 23 other customers were served at the next window, but it was still nice to have one offer of kindness.
So, since it's very easy for me to write about the things which annoy the crap out of me, I thought it only right that I dedicated one post to the three good people I encountered during the past week. I know that I tend to be a little snarky about most things, and that I should don my rose-colored glasses on more occasions, but alas, I am what I am. And this blog would be very boring if I wrote about butterflies and cupcakes. In my opinion at least.
Anyway, to those three gentlemen, I salute you and pay you great homage. And I hope you all win the lottery. Hopefully your actions will rub off on your fellow humans. Then perhaps I can do a counter-theme to my "Decline of Humanity" posts. Hope?
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