First things first, the Pittsburgh marathon is in 6 short days and I am more excited for this than I have ever been in my entire life. I have managed to successfully train for this race without being hit by a vehicle, which is more than I can say for last year's performance. With that being said, I apologize in advance for anyone that has to deal with my perpetual happiness this week. However, if you aren't happy every day, I highly suggest you do something to resolve that problem. I also suggest you do your best to avoid other people because, quite frankly, no one wants to be over-shadowed by your negative aura.
PS: Check out my finisher's photo from last year's marathon!
This week's blog post has been inspired by selfish individuals that have an overall disrespect to other members of the general public. In fact, the following people live day to day with absolutely no regard for the fact that they are not the only human being on the face of the earth.
We have all fallen victim to being in the same vicinity as these fools: the woman that leaves her cart in the middle of the cereal aisle and heads to the deli, the person that stops walking on the people mover at the airport and blocks all surrounding areas with their luggage, the person that looks at the Starbucks menu like they have never seen it before when you are on your way to work, the individual that drives ten miles under the speed limit in the fast lane and so on and so forth.
The following individuals have one-upped the aforementioned oblivious idiots. I have witnessed the following performances in the last week:
On Saturday afternoon, while my friends and I were trying to enjoy a delicious vegetarian lunch al fresco (outside), some oblivious Starbucks consumer exited the coffee shop, grabbed an empty chair roughly ten feet from us and lit up a cigarette. Up until we talked about him loud enough for him to hear, I ate mouth fulls of smoke thanks to his disgusting habit in correlation with brisk south west winds.
Now, had this man walked out of the coffee shop and took a quick glance around, here is what he would have seen: multiple people dining very close by, two professionals having a business meeting and a mother with her two children. But, he didn't look around. As far as he knew, he was the only person on McKnight Road. He was so worried about ingesting nicotine that he failed to see that his nasty habit was about to impact other people's well-being.
Additionally, a couple of weeks ago, I inhaled a face-full of cigarette smoke will running at the lake. As far as I am concerned, smoking on the running trail during marathon season should be punishable by a kick in the teeth.
Last week, as I am driving along minding my own business singing in my Jetta, the car to the left of me cut me off, nearly side swiping me, and then made a right turn. Yep, right turn from the left lane; standard operating procedure (no its not). When I honked my horn he threw his hands up in the air and then gave me the finger as if I was the douche.
Do you know what I do when I realize that I am about to pass the road that I need to turn onto? I continue on my way to the next light so that I can turn around safely in an effort to not jeopardize the safety of other drivers. We have all seen stories of 50 car pile ups on the news, and though I have not been involved, I can take a shot in the dark and guess that those accidents did not start from cautious drivers using their turn signals.
I could really go on for days but I am too excited to get to work this morning. Plus, I'm sure that all of you reading this are concocting a list of examples that you have witnessed in your head also, and I am not trying to ruin anyone's Monday.
The point is, everyone should use these examples of clueless citizens and make sure that you do not become these people. No matter what you may believe, you are not the only person on this planet and you have to act in a way that is conducive to the lives of others.
In fact, we should strive to not only act neutrally, but instead, in a way that can effectively better the lives of others. If everyone could temporarily step back from the things that they want at this very instant and look around for a second, we could start living our lives the correct way: for others.
Happy Monday, everyone. May your week be successful and productive.
Here's to observing our surroundings and adapting accordingly,
Xoxo
