Week 2--Pet Peeves

For those reading all posts on this blog, I find myself in much the same situation as Karen. In her post she detailed her lack of pet peeves and goal to maintain (or regain, perhaps) that status. I find that the actions of others do not usually bother me unless they interfere with my abilities to choose and act freely. And so it became a quest throughout the day to find something that bothers me. Seemingly a contrary quest, as typically I strive to be unencumbered by the actions of others and to have a cheerful and content disposition despite any obstacles. So, discarding my usual goal, I became hyper-aware of all that went on around me. The slouching boy next to me in class, the alarming leg-jiggling of the girl two seats down that shook the entire row, the frequent sniffles of the unknown person behind me, and various incidental actions that I tried desperately to escalate into a three-hundred fifty word pet peeve. Throughout the day I discovered some things that made me uncomfortable, distracted, and even mildly irritated, but nothing seemed worthy of the title "pet peeve."

Although finding a pet peeve proved more difficult than I initially suspected, I only had to return home to find the answer. In recent years, our society has passed through a "cell-phone mania"--our citizens are obsessed with their phones. Young children, old children, teens, young adults, old adults--all are constantly checking for new messages, typing frantically no matter the situation. In one case, a girl in a public bathroom turned on the faucet to wash her hands, received a text message and replied to it before her hands were clean. In other situations, people disregard common courtesy and text while talking to friends (and strangers) or on a date.

Answering a text message should never take priority over cleanliness (especially in a bathroom, that's just gross) or the feelings of other people. As the years progress and the addiction to cell phones and texting grows more and more serious, I have a feeling I will no longer have difficulty naming an irritation worthy of the label "pet peeve."