The Little Things

Clutching my soda and the steering wheel with my right hand, I take a drag on a cigarette with my left. With my cell phone tucked tightly between my face and my shoulder, I veer quickly into the right lane without the nuisance of a turn signal. I flick away my cigarette and roll the window down further to chuck my coke can at a road sign. Nice, two points.

I arrive at my destination and pull into a handicapped spot. I continue to gab as I throw an old hanger on my review mirror, saved from when I had a broken foot. I walk to class, not bothering to throw a "thank you" to the person who opened a door for me. I sit in class, sign the attendance sheet before deciding to call it a day and take a nap on a textbook.

I continue throughout the day to break every common courtesy known to polite society.

I could be this obnoxious and not be arrested or persecuted, unless that includes one or two people flipping me off. In the end, that really doesn't bother me that much. I don't believe these actions are the difference between going to heaven or hell. So does it really matter? I wouldn't like to be called a lazy or selfish person, so spreading it out into small increments throughout the day should make my behavior unrecognizable as character flaws.

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a large moral dilemma. More like very small, insignificant dilemmas, so small that they almost don't count. After all, it is not likely that I or anyone else will stay awake at night pondering the pros and cons of turn signal usage.

In the end, I guess it's not a big deal. That is, unless everyone was like me. Wilmington traffic might be a bit more hazardous than it already is, with it being a requirement to talk on a cell phone while driving. I may walk a city street and kick my way through a sidewalk littered with trash and mounds of cigarette butts. There may be a few more people on crutches or in wheelchairs that have to walk a bit further to class. On a positive note, there would be a large increase in inmates that are employed to clean up the roadsides.

I am not typically this obnoxious. And the majority of people aren't. Hence the expression "common courtesy." Which is why I become so annoyed with those people who think it's ok to be the exception, and that the world has room for them and doesn't mind. In reality, I think the world does mind, and I definitely mind. It's small, insignificant things, I know. My point exactly. It takes little time and effort to be a polite functioning human being. So cowboy up, be a man and take your burger wrapper over to the trash can.