A Womble’s Musings…..

I remember a conversation I had some months ago about the rise in divorce rate. I wondered what was responsible as in the past, people stayed together longer. The reply I got was, “People put up with a lot of nonsense back then and they shouldn’t have. They didn’t have options”.

I also remember seeing a video on Facebook. Basically, someone had secretly recorded a family’s private conversation on a train – complete with audio. His friend made a comment about how she would not appreciate if he did that to her. Others applauded his ability to record the video without detection. His argument was, 'It is perfectly legal to record people in public without their consent”.

Why do I remember so much all of a sudden? Well I read a publication that touched on the legality of restraining passengers on planes. Seeing as the captain has a major say on this, it made me wonder who restrains the captain or even decides if he is disruptive? ….. I really don’t want an answer to that.

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I am no expert and you can argue that I am not even human (seeing as Wombles are imaginary. Lol) but here’s what I think.

Society has advanced to a point where people are becoming extremely selfish. Man/Woman/Not Gender Specific is inherently selfish. I know I am and I don’t deny it. We have always been, are and will always be so. What has changed? We are evolving our selfishness to extremes and I worry what legacy we will leave for our future generations. But then again, do we really care (selfishness)? And will they care what they leave for their future generations (advanced selfishness)?......and thus continues the viciously degrading cycle.

I think people are less willing to ‘walk in another’s shoes’. Let me explain. I am selfish but before I do anything involving another person I ‘walk in their shoes’. For example, I want to meet up with you, I’ll consider your location, schedule and current situation to make sure what I propose is convenient for you. I’ll plan well in advance in case we have to commute to the venue. This will ensure it’s cheaper. If I will be in your area anytime soon, I can arrange our meet up to coincide with my visit…….you get the drift? That’s what I call ‘walking in another’s shoes’.

Now, back to my conversation on divorce. I don’t entirely agree that people who stayed together through thick and thin did that because they had no options or put up with ‘nonsense’. Surely there are people out there who are happy in their marriages and have always been. Maybe people were: More considerate? More tolerant?  More willing to ‘walk in their spouse’s shoes’? More understanding of the fact that although we are selfish, we should learn to accommodate others and treat them well? …………maybe, just maybe people were less selfish?

And for our secret cameraman, my question is: Why did you have to hide the camera? Surely you could have let them know or asked them before you started filming? Maybe a part of you was unsure? Did you suspect they would not be entirely happy to let you film them? I think your need to do something like that secretly says it all – you probably shouldn’t have filmed that family. Whether it was legal or not, was it the proper thing to do? Hmmmmmm…..

As for passenger restraining, all I can say is I owe it to myself and other passengers to ensure I am well-behaved. Whenever I am in a public place, I am aware that I should treat it better than I would treat my private space. It is public and I need to maintain/use the facilities or area with the awareness that it belongs to the community/people – don’t even get me started on people who put the sole of their shoes on bus seats or office chairs!!!! Or people who spit/pee in the streets!!!!! :-O

Ah well, I don’t reckon anyone will spare a dime for my thoughts but there. All this musing ‘has me knackered’ so I’m off to my burrow where it’s warm :-P

Do let me know what you think.

Love Always,

L.W           

P.S

Happy 150th Birthday London Underground :-)