Don’t you just love humans? I mean really, they’re so diverse, so unique. Each individual is exactly that, individual. Each person has their own nature and personality influenced by their surroundings and life experiences. Yet, it appears that some can’t accept this. Certain individuals strive to make everyone around them a clone of some mental image of how they presume others should be. Okay, some humans who have a weak willpower or personality and will attempt to conform to this more limited viewpoint. Others will not. What I find fascinating about this, is how those who don’t conform suddenly become the enemy. Creatures who not only have thin skins and cannot stand criticism, but are also somehow reduced in stature to sub-human. No longer a part of the greater humanity, they have mysteriously become creatures who must be derided and insulted and, if possible, removed.
This happens in so many walks of life that it is not easy to settle into a single parameter. Office cliques, school gate cliques, political or social cliques. Religion, race, creed, or whatever. The variation is staggering.
The thing I don’t get though, is how individual people sometimes fall into the same habit. If you aren’t doing it their way, then you must be an arsehole, a moron who can’t follow simple instruction. Regardless of whether you already do or have done something in a way similar to or precisely like that being suggested, you’re still wrong if you don’t immediately do what you’re told and obey! I have seen this sort of thing in a number of different environments, and it doesn’t seem to matter how much people like each other. If you don’t obey the one giving instructions, you are a sub-human waste of skin.
Obedience. Hrrm. I confess I’ve long had a problem with this particular requirement. I don’t do obey very well, and I tend to get sarcastic when somebody tries to force me to do their wishes. No, it doesn’t ever end well, yes I know this. Still, I can’t seem to help myself. When somebody wants me to do something I’ve already done, and they don’t believe me well, that sarcasm just drips out and hey presto the other person gets all offended and starts with the accusations. You know the sort of thing, you don’t want help, you don’t appreciate help, why ask if you don’t want their opinion, you can’t handle criticism/help/other ideas, you’re thin skinned…. blah blah blah, etc etc. This usually followed by snide remarks and insults. Yeah, fine, whatever.
I’ve seen this happen to so many other people and the end result is almost always the same. One person in the conversation gets all angry and nasty, the other person gets all confused and often hurt by the comments hurled at them. The plaintiff “But, I did that already” is often dismissed. Why? Because you didn’t do it their way when they told you. Offices, schools, playgrounds, the local inn, restaurant, burger joint, factory. No matter the locale or people, there is always the same thing occurring.
So, perhaps individuality and uniqueness are not such a good thing after all. Okay, there is a school of thought that it is the very diversity and difference of humanity that makes them so amazing, so wonderful, so resilient, so adaptable. But, is it not this exact same difference/diversity/uniqueness that also brings them to conflict, to wars and hatred? I’ve seen articles that claim it is tribalism that causes problems between different humans. How we all gather into “like” groups – whether that is opinion, belief, religion, politics, or simply race. It’s no great surprise, humans are tribal, just watch football fans for the prime example of that.
We are naturally social animals. We gather for company, comfort, protection and a great many other reasons. However, humans are not naturally monogamous creatures. We wander and roam, see new places, experience other cultures, explore. and we like to meet other people who are not like us. Unfortunately, that can cause problems with the “tribe,” and individuals in our immediate social circle, and you’re back to the earlier paragraph where you don’t obey, or conform, conformity seems to be very important to some of the more strident and theatrical groups, or should that be tribes?
Still, I can’t help looking out in wonder and amazement at humanity. We are a fascinating species. Oh I get frustrated and angry, even to screaming and hair tearing with some of humanity. I frequently look heavenward and wonder where that bloody asteroid is and why it hasn’t hit us yet and if it would kindly hurry up, please. But in between my disgust and anger at humanity, there is a deep fascination with all of it.
Let’s face it, regardless of our bad habits, this world would be so damn boring without people on it.
