Monday, April 24, 2006
My uncle in-law said something last weekend that got me thinking. We were on our way into San Francisco using the BART (San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District).
Because of my time in Munich, Germany, I have a lot of experience with what I would consider a great public transportation system. You buy a ticket and just ride. There is no machine that scans your ticket. But there are under-cover police that occasionally ask everyone to pull out their card, and they'll write tickets right then for anyone who does not have one.
I was asking my uncle in-law how laws are enforced with the BART, and he responded by saying, "It's just one of those things, you know...
It works MOSTLY because MOST people are honest."
As we were getting off at our station, the man ahead of us jumped right over the ticket-scanner, which means he had been riding illegally. I looked at my uncle in-law, and said, "What was that about MOST people being honest?" He laughed and said he had never seen that before.
To be "honest," I just don't feel like most people are honest. I don't even think most people are honest most of the time. I might think most people are honest some of the time, and 95% of that time is when others are looking. I began to wonder if I had an unjust outlook on the people around me. Do I just "zero-in" on the dishonest people in situations because I react emotionally to their dishonesty, whereas I do not notice the rest of the people in that situation because they are honest? So, this statement got me thinking a lot, which is something I like to do, you know. And throughout the weekend, I had a couple different situations which sort of substantiated my outlook on things. I wanted to share them with you and see what you think.
#1: That man jumping over the ticket scanner. Would he break the law in this way if a police officer were standing right there? Probably not. This is dishonesty.
#2: My uncle in-law was standing next to some stairs, talking on the cell phone. A man walked by and, very politely, said, "Excuse me, sir." So he moved out of the way, and this "gentleman" walked down the stairs. I was coming up the stairs and heard him mumble under his breath, "Yeah, just stand right in the F*(#ing way, A%@#hole." He acted nice to my uncle in-laws face, but swore at him pretty profanely when he couldn't hear. This is dishonesty.
#3: I was in a line with my son in a stroller. I looked behind me at something, and someone came up and stood in front of me in line. When he saw that I saw him, he got behind me. As we advanced in line, he kept getting closer and closer to me until he was kind of next to me, and then he somehow got a little in front of me. I glared at him. When he returned my look, he sort of shrugged and then got behind me again. I guess he figured he could take advantage of someone with a stroller. This wasn't the first or last time people tried to cut in front of me in lines that day because I had a stroller in front of me. This is dishonesty.
#4: SPEED LIMIT. Something none of us really like talking about, because most people are dishonest about this. When the speed limit is 65 MPH, and you drive 70, you are breaking the law. Some might even go 80, 90, even 100 MPH on deserted highways, and why? Because they don't think a highway patrolman is nearby. But the highways look a lot different when there is a highway patrolman in view, don't they? Everyone drives pretty decently, and maybe 50% actually drive at or below 65 MPH. If we're going to be "honest," we have to admit that this is dishonesty.
So, here's my question to you: Are most people honest? Is my worldview irreversibly distorted because of my naturally negative outlook?
2 Comments:
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At Tuesday, April 25, 2006 12:21:00 AM,
said...
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Why do you have to ask these questions? I usually like to avoid thinking of myself as a dishonest person, but it inevitably comes out in my life which just makes me cringe and come back to the evil word..."hypocrite" :(
Or maybe another word
"work-in-progress"
I was reminded of a radio program that I was listening to this morning. There was something like 70% of people in a survey who were bothered daily by people who cussed, but there were only 8% who said that they cussed on a daily basis. I find this to be a little difficult to grasp. Does everybody seem to interact with those 8% of the sample group? Or is it that people say what they think others want to hear.
thoughts..?
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At Tuesday, April 25, 2006 12:31:00 PM,
Matthew E Taft said...
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Well, I'm sorry if I made you feel bad - unless you should feel bad, in which case, I guess I'm not sorry =) With this article, my goal wasn't necessarily to get people to think about how hypocritical or dishonest they are personally, but to discuss our outlook on people in general. Our view of whether most people are honest or not will affect how we relate with them.
Concerning the amount of people who cuss on a daily basis: I will make this a different post (as it's kind of a different topic, but it's interesing enough that I don't want it to get lost within this article). Meet me there =)
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Matthew E Taft said...