It's so easy to become offended. It actually comes pretty natural. Someone says something. You feel it's directed at you Strong reaction follows No need to react, it's got nothing to do with you as a person Imagine some remarks about academic work versus manual one, a bit dismissive about the latter. You don't have a degree and never wanted one. You know very well it takes years of experience and training to do what you're doing. Talent is involved too, as some people do have "two left hands". You still feel you should add something to the conversation, but not sure if it is going to be well-received. No need to enlighten the other party right now Most people think in terms of opposites. If it's not this, it's that and it can't be anything else. Certainty of one's convictions is also a form of self-reassurance that everything is stable in one's world. Other points of view cannot be allowed because they are disruptive. Cognitive disrup...
The carefree and the cautious, the well-behaved and the morons, they all walk up and down the same pavements (sidewalks if you prefer).
Whoever wrote a book on how people behave when they approach a stranger, needs to add a new chapter.
It could be called the Virus Effect.
Before the pandemics, there used to be a kind of social ballet, especially on narrow lanes. One step to the right, maybe a bit of backtracking, eyes averting direct connection.
At times, so many of us have been fooled by the fellow passer-by's moves (neurons mirroring someone else's neurons , as they do). We would move in the same direction, ending up in an amused half-collision.
Nowadays that benign bumping into each other is not on at all. Social distancing, or physical distancing rather, has altered pedestrian behaviour.
People scan the approaching human traffic and assess pretty fast if they need to stop, step to the side and wait. A lot depends on how rushed or distracted the other party seems to be.
Waiting has its rewards too. More people than ever have gone past me, smiled and said "thank you". A lot of direct eye contact happened. Gratitude for being kept safe? Some form of solidarity in difficult circumstances?
Once the Virus is gone, everyone may well go back to old habits. Right now, the smiles make the new politeness an unexpected product of hard times.
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