Thoughts inspired by the umbrella
Sydney has been awfully rainy this winter and spring, which means there's been a plethora of umbrellas making their way about town. Yesterday was one such of these umbrella days, and I found myself swinging the umbrella to and fro as I walked home.
Sydney umbrellas are not the little shooka umbrellas where you press the button and they shooka right on out to protect you from the rain. Sydney umbrellas are the old man umbrellas that you could use as a walking stick--there's no shrinking those suckers! And, well, they need to be because when it rains here, it's usually accompanied by wind. And the little shooka umbrellas get rocked by the wind and have a tendency to break and fall apart. Hence the proliferation of old man umbrellas.
This city is a bustling city with lots of walkers on the streets, which means that when it's raining outside and everyone has a giant old man umbrella, you have to be careful. I'm conscious sidewalk walker at the best of times, trying to adhere to my side of the sidewalk (left side here), walking behind my walking partner if it's a skinny sidewalk and there's someone coming our way, and generally trying to be considerate of the people around me. Well, when it's raining and the umbrellas pop out, the courtesy increases. Which got me thinking the other day. Most people walk around with their giant umbrellas, hand in the middle of the umbrella, swinging it forward and backward along with their gait, getting awfully close to stabbing the people walking directly in front of and behind them. This always makes me quite angry, because they're clearly not thinking of other people or imagining the worst-case scenario (yes, I do) of someone stopping abruptly in front of them and their umbrella getting lodged in that suddenly stopping someone.
This is why I carry my umbrella as though I'm holding a golf club--the tip faces down and stays in line with my body. It does not get in the way of the people around me. But as I was walking home on a person-less street last night, I switched the umbrella around and carried it as the everyday joe does. Right in the middle. And it actually moved much more easily that way, allowing my body to have more fluid motion. A great way to walk when you're by yourself, but still questionable when surrounded by other people. Admittedly, carrying the umbrella the way I do isn't quite as comfortable, and it's a conscious turn on what is probably most natural.
Is it evolution? Is this umbrella carrying (and let's add sidewalk walking in there, too) a small, current day form of survival of the fittest? Do people just do what's easiest for them without regard to the rest of the population? Clearly these are unconscious actions for most of these people.
So here's my real question. What's more natural (and what's better)--to look out for yourself and to do whatever it is that works best for you, to make your life easier? Or to bend a bit here and there to try to make things easier on the people around you, or on the greater population? And is that question capitalism versus socialism?
I'm not really sure, and certainly I'm the only person who would go to the minute detail of linking how a person carries an umbrella to evolution and politics, but I'm a big believer that the small things matter. And that people's actions (conscious and unconscious) are a reflection of their thoughts and beliefs.
Am I a better person for carrying my umbrella so it doesn't hurt other people (and so they don't have to bend out of their way for me even though I may bend out of my way for them)? Or am I unnatural for thinking that far and for not carrying it in the way that feels best to my body?
Rhetorical question. And this is just one of the random thoughts that go through my head during my daily walk to and from work. But it's my best mind wander time, so I thought I'd share my mind wander.
Sydney umbrellas are not the little shooka umbrellas where you press the button and they shooka right on out to protect you from the rain. Sydney umbrellas are the old man umbrellas that you could use as a walking stick--there's no shrinking those suckers! And, well, they need to be because when it rains here, it's usually accompanied by wind. And the little shooka umbrellas get rocked by the wind and have a tendency to break and fall apart. Hence the proliferation of old man umbrellas.
This city is a bustling city with lots of walkers on the streets, which means that when it's raining outside and everyone has a giant old man umbrella, you have to be careful. I'm conscious sidewalk walker at the best of times, trying to adhere to my side of the sidewalk (left side here), walking behind my walking partner if it's a skinny sidewalk and there's someone coming our way, and generally trying to be considerate of the people around me. Well, when it's raining and the umbrellas pop out, the courtesy increases. Which got me thinking the other day. Most people walk around with their giant umbrellas, hand in the middle of the umbrella, swinging it forward and backward along with their gait, getting awfully close to stabbing the people walking directly in front of and behind them. This always makes me quite angry, because they're clearly not thinking of other people or imagining the worst-case scenario (yes, I do) of someone stopping abruptly in front of them and their umbrella getting lodged in that suddenly stopping someone.
This is why I carry my umbrella as though I'm holding a golf club--the tip faces down and stays in line with my body. It does not get in the way of the people around me. But as I was walking home on a person-less street last night, I switched the umbrella around and carried it as the everyday joe does. Right in the middle. And it actually moved much more easily that way, allowing my body to have more fluid motion. A great way to walk when you're by yourself, but still questionable when surrounded by other people. Admittedly, carrying the umbrella the way I do isn't quite as comfortable, and it's a conscious turn on what is probably most natural.
Is it evolution? Is this umbrella carrying (and let's add sidewalk walking in there, too) a small, current day form of survival of the fittest? Do people just do what's easiest for them without regard to the rest of the population? Clearly these are unconscious actions for most of these people.
So here's my real question. What's more natural (and what's better)--to look out for yourself and to do whatever it is that works best for you, to make your life easier? Or to bend a bit here and there to try to make things easier on the people around you, or on the greater population? And is that question capitalism versus socialism?
I'm not really sure, and certainly I'm the only person who would go to the minute detail of linking how a person carries an umbrella to evolution and politics, but I'm a big believer that the small things matter. And that people's actions (conscious and unconscious) are a reflection of their thoughts and beliefs.
Am I a better person for carrying my umbrella so it doesn't hurt other people (and so they don't have to bend out of their way for me even though I may bend out of my way for them)? Or am I unnatural for thinking that far and for not carrying it in the way that feels best to my body?
Rhetorical question. And this is just one of the random thoughts that go through my head during my daily walk to and from work. But it's my best mind wander time, so I thought I'd share my mind wander.
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