Ungraceful Gestures...
When is a wave of one's hand actually insulting? Or a smile for that matter?
Yesterday, a neighbor waved to me after I waved to her and I actually felt insulted. I hate making assumptions. We all know what happens when you do and they even told us in boot camp, "Ya'll know what happens when ya'll make assumptions, don't ya?" (He was from the backwoods of Georgia) "It makes an ASS out of UMPS and TIONS... Now hold on a minute... that don't sound right. It's ASSUME, don't ASSUME... ya'll make an ASS out of U and ME!" I thought, you're doing a pretty good job of it all on your own.
Anyway, I try not to assume things, but do you know how sometimes when someone smiles or waves at you, it just seems so obligatory? So forced and half-assed? I don't mean that I need some over-the-top Mickey Mouse Annette Funicello going nuts kind of wave. Just a wave, like you mean it. This was like a, "Yeah, Hi fuckhead, I see you..." kind of wave. She's given me this wave before. And now I don't even want to wave to her EVER AGAIN! But then again, maybe I should be happy that she waved back? Because, I REALLY hate it when I wave to someone and then they don't even wave back. Then I just want to remove all their teeth...the hard way. I'm not sure there's any easy way. Maybe with a KAAA-RATE CHOP! and aaaa KICK! "HIII - YAA!"
Or what about waving someone on into traffic or waving at a pedestrian that it's okay to cross? So, after I encountered Miss I'd-rather-be-eating-poo-instead-of-waving-to-you, I was on my way to work and this one dude looked at me like I just pissed all over his windshield and didn't even wave me into traffic, he just raised his index finger off of his steering wheel and pointed me into traffic. Again, I waved and felt a bit of gratitude, but somehow I felt slightly insulted. It just seemed like sooo much effort to them. And I don't mean that I was truly insulted to the point of dwelling on it all day. Just bothered, because they seemed so bothered.
My point is, should people get points for common courtesy? I know that it's not so common, but should they?
In the Greek language, the word NO is pronounced "OH-hee" with kind of a silent "chi" sound. Well, many of the Greeks in Greece don't even bother saying it, they just make a motion with their head as though they're spitting and make a Tehht sound with their tongues against their teeth. And then, there are some that don't even bother making a sound at all. They just raise and drop their eyebrows. Maybe they think that it's too hot to talk, I don't know. I actually think it's fucking rude. Put some god-damn effort into it.
I waited before writing this yesterday because I wanted to see if I was going to meet anymore assholes. Another rule that I try to keep in mind is that if I meet more than 2 assholes in one day, it's probably me. Well, yesterday, I didn't...I just met 2. But, you know what? I'm going to keep waving to people and I'm going to keep smiling. I have a lot to wave and smile about. I'm very lucky and very thankful for my life and I'm not going to let someone else's actions dictate mine. If they want to stay miserable and be bitches, that's their choice.
However, I may have assumed this whole thing. It may just be me...little ole sensitive me...little ole sensitive, smiling, waving me.