Yesterday I was entering a store while a lady was exiting.  I opened the door on the right and began to enter as she took a step through the same door I had opened.  I politely said to her “enter to your right, exit to your right” and she had no idea what I was referring and gave me the stink eye.  I guess she thought I was holding the door for her, which I would have done gladly had I been exiting with her.

My observation has to do with her getting upset at me and why she got upset.  Was it that I pointed out to her that she was exiting the store through the enter door?  Was it that she thought I was being a smarty pants?  I’m not sure, but she decided to exit through the wrong door and made myself and the 5 people behind me wait as she did so. I wonder how someone can see the exit door is clearly free to be used, yet still want to exit through the enter door while many people are entering?  Oh, I failed to mention that her hands were not full nor was she pushing a cart.

Apparently everyone isn’t aware of the “rules” of traffic flow.

Yesterday I waved at a neighbor as he left for work and he looked right at me and continued on without waving back.  I know he saw me and even though I don’t know him well he could have waved.  In the south you wave even if you don’t know the person and you are expected to wave back.  It’s one of those cultural things having to do with southern politeness and charm.  And I like it.

I have observed several of these types of things lately that lead me down the thought road that our society is becoming more and more introverted.  The inundation of information leads us to believe crime is rampant.  We focus on our smart phones instead of the world around us.  Technology is producing people who do not interact.  In short, people simply are not talking to each other.

Have you noticed this?  Does it concern you?  Will it change?

I don’t think I stop to smell the roses often enough.  It feels like my life is mapped out with goals to the point that I am living from one step to the next step and time is passing so quickly.  I have brief moments when I stop to appreciate what I have and for those moments time seems to cooperate and slows.  But then life speeds up again and weeks pass like days.

I wish I could invent a device that would allow anyone to slow down time.

I am the type of person who does not like conflict in my life, therefore I practice habits and actions which help me eliminate (as much as possible) conflicts before they begin. There are times when you must deal with some type of conflict and there will be times when you must stand your ground.

Sometimes you must dig in on what you know is right or bar the door on things you simply will not compromise.  This could be small things or you might need to dig in on big things.  The simple fact is that if you pick and choose the right times to hold your ground, people will come to respect you more AND will usually not push the limits on things they know you will not relent.

My observation yesterday reminded me of this fact.  I had to pick a small thing and refused to compromise.  I knew that if I didn’t make a stand then I would be allowing for the flood waters to pour into my life.  I made my stand and I was determined to not back down and it worked.

Sometimes you must dig in and refuse to compromise.

It is interesting how life can seem to flip in the blink of an eye.  One moment things could seem dire and something can happen to turn events in your favor.   There is a saying in golf:

When you are playing well it feels like you’ll never play poorly again.  And when you’re playing bad, it never seems like you’ll play good again.

The truth is all things change and I think it is important to recognize that when life seems to be in a downturn those bad times will not last forever.  I had a friend of mine lose his job once and he was upset, as can be expected.  Over a couple of beers I tried to help him gain perspective and I remember telling him that it’s not like he’s never going to find another job.  It will take time, but the bad times will end.  And eventually he found a job.

The emotion of dealing with tough times makes it difficult to maintain proper perspective, but the truth is those tough times will eventually end and the sun will rise on a brand new day.

Our neighborhood has a rule that all dog owners must pick up after their dog goes to the bathroom.  They provide a dog station with a trash can for waste and bags for picking up poop.  I like the rule because without it you wouldn’t want to walk in the grass and most (most) of the residents adhere to the rule.  But there is one resident who walks her dog behind my garage who habitually does not pick up after her large dog.  And we all know large dog means large piles of poo.

As I observed her yesterday I wondered why someone who knows the rule decides to ignore it and is willing to walk away while she knows someone is watching her!  It is inconsiderate of the other residents to fill up the lawn with your dog’s poop.  The manager at the neighborhood office has asked us to report anyone who doesn’t pick up their poo so I did that.

I can’t imagine how lazy and selfish someone must be to refuse to pick up after their dog.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon catching up with an old friend.  Joe and I met in 2003 when he was a restaurant manager for a national chain and I was living in Lake Norman.  I patronized his establishment because they had the MLB package on the television and I liked to go out to watch Red Sox playoff baseball.  Of course over time we became friends.

So yesterday we sat for nearly 7 hours watching football and finding out what each other had been doing for the last 10 years and how quickly time had passed.  I observed how easily we fell back into our friendship.  Our lives have changed and I’m sure the new version of our friendship will conform to our new lives, but the foundation of the friendship is still there.  It is amazing how you can reconnect with someone and it is as if not one day had passed.  It was nice to see Joe yesterday.

Friendships for me are rare; true friendships that is.

I was recently in a restaurant which, like many, had a bar.  I observed a young girl (7-8 years old) sitting at the bar with her father.  I have seen this before and it really bothers me.  I’m not going to tell anyone how to raise their children, but why would you want your child to be exposed to grown ups drinking alcohol, cursing while screaming about sports and general adult behavior?

I will never understand people who drag their children into adult settings.  It seems to me that judgement should trump the selfish desire.  What I mean is that a parent should sacrifice their desire to go watch a game and take the child to a kid-appropriate establishment.  I’m not sure where this decision comes from, but in my opinion it comes from selfishness.  This father’s desire to watch a game and drink a beer was more important than using good judgement.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought I would toss this observation out to my readers to see if I’m way off on this or if others hold my opinion.   What do you think?  Am I way off?