|
Congratulations!
You have finally landed on the one page on this entire site (and on the entire internet for that matter) that is purely without bullshit... my soapbox page. There are a lot of times during our show that, whether it's because of time constraints and other obligations, I don't always get to address some issues that I feel don't get the attention they deserve. There are even more times when I just don't feel like waiting until the show the next day to get some things off my chest. Thus, I have started the "Rob's Soapbox" page. If you have clicked on this page looking for someone to coddle your fragile sense of self-esteem, or tell you what you want to hear or to reinforce your outdated world view, then exit this page right now and go somewhere else. If you are in search of the last forum for reason and common sense left in the world, then sit back, relax, and enjoy. I make only one promise with this soapbox page... if you read long enough and often enough, you will eventually be offended. So here's my latest soapbox. Listen up, 'cause you just might learn something... |
September 8, 2003
I'm Not a Parent.... and I'm So Glad
Every time my wife and I start to think we want to have children, all we need is a reality check. It usually comes in the form of some type of interaction with a child, which reminds us that we are still too immature, selfish and independent to be raising children.
For example, many weeks ago my wife and I had one of those "couple" talks about the future which included a potential plan to have kids. The next day, my wife wound up having lunch with friends, which included a 3-month-old baby. She came home flustered, declaring that there was no way she was ready for kids. That's usually all it takes. Once we are reminded that the only right way to be a parent is to completely turn your life over to your kid, we are reminded that we aren't ready to do that.
Recently, though we discovered another reason we're not ready to be parents; we aren't ready to turn into assholes.
My wife and I vacationed in San Diego a few weeks ago and did a lot of the "touristy" things, many of them kid oriented (Zoo, Animal Park, Sea World), mainly because she and I are big kids when it comes to animals.
By the third day, my wife was ready to blow at all of the rude people. I wasn't far behind her, but I kept reminding her that it was Labor Day weekend, there were more people than usual, etc. On that third day, to help us maintain our sanity, I proposed that we play a game. We decided to monitor the types of people who were polite versus the types of people who were rude. We were hoping to perhaps uncover some new racial stereotype or maybe a deficiency in one of the genders. Boy, were we surprised.
Here's what we decided we would define as rude:
*Not saying excuse me, thank you and other pleasantries
*Blocking walkways for other people
*Running into people and not apologizing
*Failing to hold doors for people behind them
*Not making an effort to move when other people were walking towards them in a confined space
Once we had our guidelines, it was easy. At Sea World, we got to the Shamu show early and had to sit for about 30 minutes waiting for the dumb whales to perform. During that time, we saw numerous people politely asking others "Is that seat taken?" "Would you mind if we squeezed in there," "Excuse me, would it be a bother for you to move down just a little?" These people all ranged in age, race and appearance, but they shared one thing; none of them had kids with them. We were able to talk to two of the couples and we confirmed that they didn't have any children at all.
We also saw a larger number of people who barreled their way into places they didn't belong, never said excuse me, got angry when someone was saving seats (something hundreds of people were doing), had attitudes in general, and were just plain miserable people.
The second group, 100% of the time, was parents. Throughout the day we saw strollers banging into people, family groups who thought it was ok to fan out shoulder to shoulder and walk into other people, and so on.
No, I'm not saying all parents are rude people. I'm saying that the overwhelming number of rude people seems to be parents now. Here's a clue parents: Just because you gave birth doesn't make you special. Despite what our stupid society tells you, you are NOT better than the rest of us. In fact, most of you are worse because you had a child before you were ready and now you're taking your resentment out on the rest of us.
I'm thrilled that I am not a parent. I pray that if I ever become one, I will have the decency, maturity and preparation needed to insure that I won't become a menace to society.
Back To Top
|
