Another Year, Another Gift

This has been a hectic year, as I try to regain the ground I lost whilst I was sick. I've been writing a lot, although most of it is not ready for public consumption yet. I have over 80k of a work of fiction that I'm in the process of editing. Hopefully it's not utter nonsense.

I also have been doing a *lot* of theatre. 6 shows in 6 months, to be precise. February: Love Letters. March: Crimes of the Heart. April: The Vagina Monologues. May: Present Laughter. June: MOMologues. July: Sylvia. (Yes, I am insane. There are 12-step programs out there, but who has the time?)

So between theatre, writing and my newfound Twitter obsession (seriously, idek), blogging and photography have taken a bit of a backseat the past year. However, now that summer is upon us and I have a new camera zoom lens in hand, I expect that to change. I've already been shooting the flowers in the yard, so it's only a matter of time before I start dragging the camera with me everywhere.

Although, the more time I spend out in the world again, the less patience I have for my fellow denizens of humanity. Seriously, is it so hard to behave respectfully and courteously towards other people? Is it truly too much to ask that we all treat each other well?

Perfect example: I did a show this past weekend. It's summer, which means it's tourist season, which means parking is ... difficult. There's a pay-and-display lot across from the theatre, where you pre-pay at the station and get a receipt to display on your dashboard. It's a little confusing, because you have to choose how much time you want first, THEN insert the payment, then get your receipt. I watched the couple in front of me - a guy in his 50s with a 30-yr-old trophy wife in 4"heels - put a quarter in first and get a receipt for 30 minutes. They were about to do that again - which would have meant another 30-minute receipt for the same time frame, and probably a parking ticket, because it's tourist season - so I politely stopped them and showed them how the machine worked. The wife completely ignored me (as in, wouldn't even look at me) and the guy made some nasty comment about the town and how backward everything was. They got their parking receipt and stalked away without another word to me - not even a thank you.

Seriously?

It just got me mad. I could have let you keep feeding money into that meter, and you would have gotten a parking ticket. I was polite and went out of my way to help you, a perfect stranger, and you don't have the common courtesy to say Thank You??

I could list a dozen examples just like that, from just the last week, but I am tried of being surrounded by so much negativity. I want kindness and manners in my life. And I think I've finally decided, once and for all, that if you treat me poorly with no reasonable excuse, I am simply no longer going to allow you into my life. I mean, we all have bad days, myself included, but it shouldn't be our "normal" interaction. So if it is, be warned: your days of pushing me around are OVER.

That's not to say that I will stop trying to be kind and helpful to people I encounter, nor that I will meet rudeness with rudeness. However, I have no intention of being the Universe's doormat forever. Those days are gone.

I have been thinking a lot about my past, and everything that has happened to get me to this point in my life. It's not where I wanted to be, but all things considered, I think I've done pretty well. I have a good job, decent salary, I'm able to provide for my family, keeping a roof over our heads, along with some basic "extras" like cable, wifi and replacement windows. Things will never be easy, and the weight of the world will always be on my shoulders, but so far, we're managing. And that's more than a lot of people can say.

Rambling post is rambling, but basically, I suppose my message is this: be kind to each other. Treat people as you wish you'd be treated. If we all did that, the world would be a far better place. If you can give someone a helping hand, you should. What seems like a small and insignificant gesture to you, may be the thing that keeps hope alive for someone else. You just never know.

And conversely, the nasty comment you thoughtlessly throw at someone in a parking lot, might be the final straw that convinces them that none of this is worth it...

... I certainly wouldn't want that on my conscience.