Pet Peeves

Pet Peeves and the practice of love and tolerance don’t go together ARGH!! I was driving to work this morning, 7:55am and noticed a few cars that didn’t have their headlights on; I thought to myself “that is a pet peeve of mine, too hazardous, others have a hard time seeing them” then the next thought that came to mind was, “pet peeves go against practicing Love and Tolerance towards all, freaking ARRGH” I could probably make a long list of pet peeves but if I really think about them they come down to 2 basics things, common courtesy and social etiquette. Don’t know about anyone else but the biggest share of my pet peeves either come while driving or in a store. Have we become such a fast track society that we no longer take the time to use basic courtesies behind the steering wheel (turn signals, head lights at dawn and dusk, no talking on the cell phone, letting someone out onto a busy street, etc) or in public in general (holding the door open for others especially the elderly, saying “excuse me” when moving around people, letting people go ahead of us in a check line if they only have 1 or 2 items again this applies more to elderly, kind smiles and pleasant comments etc) these are just a few. Manners/social etiquette is a another thing that seems to be decreasing in our society, my dad was raised a poor farm kid, he had no idea about social etiquette when he joined the Army he was around guys who did practice etiquette and proper manners and he tried to emulate them because he understood the valve of presenting yourself respectfully in public and mixed company, it was one of the valves he strongly instilled upon his children. I was raised to say, thank you, please, no thank you, greet people with a cordial greeting, to say yes and no instead of yah, yup, naw; the worst case I saw of this was a young man sitting in front of a county court judge, the judge would ask the young man a question and he would reply to the judge with a yah or naw, I am sure the judge is use to this but to me it was blatant disrespect to the judge. I have a problem with people who chatter when another person is speaking in a meeting or formal setting, this is flat out rude and disrespectful. Another problem of mine is childish behavior and I do call this a problem because it is more than a pet peeve or intolerance. When I was growing up childish behavior was looked down on and one could be punished for not controlling ones self, so as I matured I took on a more serious attitude towards certain things. Loud flatulence in a social setting is not funny it is rude, belching loudly is for 5 years and not grown men and women, the same goes for passing gas. Giggling over sexual innuendoes is for adolescent or teenage kids, stupid sexual innuendoes in general are for people under 20, sorry but dick, boob, and vagina jokes for the most part are just socially unacceptable, same goes with any form of vulgarity or excessive profanity. See this is my problem, most people can take this type of behavior in stride but it really gets under my skin, to others I come across as arrogant, humorless, and too serious, so the problem me and how I react and how it effects my serenity.
The things I have mentioned above do need to be worked on by the individuals who do the acts; it is their ignorance and theirs alone. I am powerless over these acts, yes I can suggest corrections to some people who are close to me but all I can give is suggestions. I am responsible for my own emotions, my own suffering. One of the ways to end suffering is to practice loving kindness all the time. When I get these moments where I become aware of something I am doing wrong it is like getting chocolate cake after getting a shot in the buttocks, it hurts like all get out but then there is a sweet reward, if I look at awareness in a positive light is really is a sweet reward. So now that I am aware that even though I will always have pet peeves I need to accept those that exhibit those peeves with loving kindness and tolerance, the pet peeves became an add on to a list of intolerances I need to work on or be more aware of. I need to keep working on not taking things to damn seriously, mainly “me”, this is something I have been gradually working on for some time. When people make a silly rude joke at an AA meeting I try really hard not to scowl; got a feeling this is one of those things that will take a good many years worth of work to become neutral on, if it ever does, hey it’s the journey that counts.

Just for laughs, I am finishing with the lyrics to a Little Feat song about those cars that have there stereos too damn loud, that cause my car to vibrate from 2 car lengths away and drown out my radio station. This is intolerant thinking at its best and the answer to another driving pet peeve; I sing the song to myself quite a bit when a Boom Box car comes close to me.

With all this rap dap 'o' lappin' and those bass drums a flappin
At a million and twenty dee bees
It's got my eyeballs bleadin' and my eardrums pleadin'
I'm beggin' mercy, please, please, please
But what has got me so mad is when you tell me oh dad
Ya 'bout as square as you can be
Would ya think I's neater if I blew out your tweeters
With this 12 guage across my knees
Give up the keys
You and your Boom Box Car