Here we
have the country road which connects our village to the next village of
Riedholz, but at the moment Riedholz is cut off from the Feldbrunnen population.
You are suddenly confronted with a sign saying the road is closed until end of
May because of water maintenance.. I think it suits them to close the road for
the water maintenance as it coincides with “be kind to frog month” when the
road is usually closed because the frogs are hopping across to get to their
mating poind. It could be that the poor
little frogs get squashed by the tyre of an oncoming car seeking their life’s
partner.
Back to the subject of this blog, I am going to be very selfish, ignorant and you could even say malignant, but I could not care less if someone else is being embarrassed. If I am embarrassed for some reason, I have never experienced that anyone has come to my aid, defended me, or even taken pity (heavens forbid). At the most there will be a couple of onlookers who are perhaps staring or making funny faces. They might turn their heads for a quiet giggle and generally wait until I am not looking and laugh and talk about it: so is the human way of dealing with things.
How often have I fallen down (proof: twice a broken left arm). Did a stranger come to my help, did someone stop to see what had happened: definitely not. I have learnt my lesson.
There are a few exceptions to my selfishness and I do tend to help especially when a physically handicapped person is involved. My eldest son is handicapped, not physically – he is autistic, and very rarely needs help. Based on this life’s experience I have had a lot of contact with handicapped people and have no problem in saying “can I help you?”. An example is once in the local supermarket where a certain person had difficulty in packing his shopping in his bag. Everyone was watching to see how it would turn out, but I marched up to him and asked if I could help. Before he could answer I took his shopping bag, opened it, and he put the shopping in. A simple job (for someone not handicapped) and everything went well. At the worse he could have told me to clear off, but he did not.
As far as television embarassement goes, forget it. Television staff are only interested in one thing, their spectators. The more the merrier and the more turnover, It means money, so they will do anything to get more people watching, no matter who is harmed or embarrassed. Not really rocket science, so anyone who decides to join in on the TV has only himself to blame if no-one claps their hands afterwards. Television is very good at twisting the truth but it is up to you to realise this. Journalism is not far behind. I do not believe very much what I read in the newspaper, it is only written to sell as many copies of the newspaper as possible.
So someone being embarrassed does not generally affect me with just one exception as explained above. As far as squirming is concerned, I just squirm at the people who stand and watch, perhaps giggle, or make funny faces. They are the idiots not those who are directly affected.
Back to the subject of this blog, I am going to be very selfish, ignorant and you could even say malignant, but I could not care less if someone else is being embarrassed. If I am embarrassed for some reason, I have never experienced that anyone has come to my aid, defended me, or even taken pity (heavens forbid). At the most there will be a couple of onlookers who are perhaps staring or making funny faces. They might turn their heads for a quiet giggle and generally wait until I am not looking and laugh and talk about it: so is the human way of dealing with things.
How often have I fallen down (proof: twice a broken left arm). Did a stranger come to my help, did someone stop to see what had happened: definitely not. I have learnt my lesson.
There are a few exceptions to my selfishness and I do tend to help especially when a physically handicapped person is involved. My eldest son is handicapped, not physically – he is autistic, and very rarely needs help. Based on this life’s experience I have had a lot of contact with handicapped people and have no problem in saying “can I help you?”. An example is once in the local supermarket where a certain person had difficulty in packing his shopping in his bag. Everyone was watching to see how it would turn out, but I marched up to him and asked if I could help. Before he could answer I took his shopping bag, opened it, and he put the shopping in. A simple job (for someone not handicapped) and everything went well. At the worse he could have told me to clear off, but he did not.
As far as television embarassement goes, forget it. Television staff are only interested in one thing, their spectators. The more the merrier and the more turnover, It means money, so they will do anything to get more people watching, no matter who is harmed or embarrassed. Not really rocket science, so anyone who decides to join in on the TV has only himself to blame if no-one claps their hands afterwards. Television is very good at twisting the truth but it is up to you to realise this. Journalism is not far behind. I do not believe very much what I read in the newspaper, it is only written to sell as many copies of the newspaper as possible.
So someone being embarrassed does not generally affect me with just one exception as explained above. As far as squirming is concerned, I just squirm at the people who stand and watch, perhaps giggle, or make funny faces. They are the idiots not those who are directly affected.
I often stick my foot in my mouth, saying things without thinking, that is embarrassing and can upset me for hours later sometimes days. Lucky I have no problem with apologising and generally my ooopsies and sooorrrys are accepted. I am amazed at how people can turn their heads away or down, when a handicapped or mentally challenged person is around. Are they scared it is catching. I have a handicapped friend, she says to me "it is easier for people if they pretend I am invisible" That makes me embarrassed on behalf of other people.
ReplyDeleteNice write, I like that they close the road when the frogs are mating. Years ago, we lived close to a stream, on the other side of the road was a dam, one morning we woke up to millions, trillions of tiny little frogs, hardly bigger than tadpoles all over the road. The cars and people carried on going, until my children rolled some drums out and closed the road. I liked that they got the idea themselves.