God, the unsuspecting civilian is so stupid.
Allow me to explain that statement. I have been on a 90s binge for a while. It started out with your run-of-the-mill romantic comedies, then to anything and everything Keanu Reeves is in. I am currently watching Speed (1994), and basically this crazy guy stashed a bunch of explosives on a bus and told our man, Jack Traven, that the bus will explode if:
1. its speed drops below 50 miles an hour
2. anybody tries to get off
Imagine the mayhem. At one point, they hit traffic and had to drive onto the shoulder. It was pretty epic.
Now, everyone around them was shocked, with reactions ranging from indignation to outrage to aggressive concern (haha). But what really pissed me off-irritated me excruciatingly-was how quick everyone was to jump to conclusions, assume nothing was the matter, aside from some crazy guy jumping onto a moving bus, just casually ruining everybody's day.
No.
This is a guy risking his career-hell, his LIFE-and you 're making his life difficult. Like it isn't difficult enough already. You can't blame the passengers, the people on the bus whose lives are in danger, for breaking down, losing their cool. Understandable. Not ideal, but understandable.
But for God's sake, the news people, the random passerby...
In the words of Dermot Mulroney in The Wedding Date (2005), "there is no such thing as 'out of the blue'". Actually, I'm pretty sure a bunch of other, more credible, people said that too only I can't quite call any to mind. Probably Freud or Einstein or Oprah or something.
But I digress. The point is, what you might be fooled into thinking is something small, something random, is more likely part of something bigger. Something nobody has the time to explain while trying to save a busful of really freaked-out civilians.
Not that the folks on the bus were being so accomodating, but I've never been in a situation like that so I'm in no position to judge. (But really...)
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Then I started thinking (never a good idea this late). Imagine all the crazy sh*t people pull, and how others respond. Going too slow on the freeway? Cacophany of honks. Basically, if you were to do anything disruptive or out of the ordinary, humanity is so self-absorbed that people will probably just assume you are going out of your way to ruin their day with your assholery.
Don't get me wrong-you might be. Asshole.
But seeing as we have so many excellent examples of seemingly disturbed individuals making a scene and doing a number of strange, dangerous things in the interest of saving the world or something...you'd think our society would have learned to stop jumping to conclusions.
Now I'm not saying that if someone tries to take your car you should assume that they are the FBI and need your motor vehicle to transport them to the Martian spaceship where they prevent the Martian colonization of Earth and just hand over your Honda. That would not be smart. But I am saying that maybe we as a society should stop jumping to conclusions and assume people around us are just a bunch of inconsiderate assholes when for all we know they could be saving the North American continent from terrorists or something like that.
Wow, all this just so my muddled brain could say :"judge not thy neighbor"?
Just think about it. The crazy lady that cut you off might have a better reason than you for being somewhere sometime. Maybe she's not saving the universe, but maybe she's in labor and has to drive herself because her husband is grappling with jewel thieves in Morocco. Jeez, cut her some slack.
Also, if ever you find yourself on a bus with a bomb, please try to freak out quietly.
Peace. Talk to you guys later.
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