Common Decency

By request, here’s my rant about common decency. Or lack thereof. It so happened that I was driving today. The car in front of me was a minivan driving a little faster than a snail. They had an “I love Twilight” sticker, but I think that’s just a coincidence. As we were walking driving, I was patient. Perhaps they were lost. Perhaps the person in front of them was slow. Then they proceeded to get on the highway. As we were turning onto the on ramp, and just as I got the “yellow arrow”, they stopped. In the middle of the lane. They stopped. Now both of us are in the middle of the street with a red arrow. Then they started (at their slow pace) down the on ramp.

We all know the purpose of the on ramp is to get your speed to the same speed as the highway. It’s a transition point between street and highway. Guess what the van did? That’s right. It stayed at 15 miles a fucking hour until it got to the end of the on ramp when it got up to 40. On a fucking freeway. It was at that point where I quickly (at 60 mph) passed them. You would have thought that I was going 100 mph by the quickness with which I passed them.

Which brings me to the point. Common decency serves a purpose. Since we are not the only people on the planet, we are obligated to recognize that there are other people. Part of being a good person, is accepting that and doing what you can to help. At the very least, you shouldn’t make their lives harder. That’s the basics of decency. I’m not expecting people to go out of their way for other people, though that would be nice. All I want is people to not make other people’s lives harder. Don’t cut people off. Don’t steal. Don’t hurt people.

I had the impulse to run that van off the road. I had the impulse to cut them off. I had the impulse to ram them. I had the impulse to flip them off. I didn’t. It wasn’t a hard decision. I still think they shouldn’t be allowed to drive, but I didn’t do anything to them. Simply because even though I scream and yell and rant about stupid things, I limit it to words. I don’t act on it. That’s the difference between instinct and sentience. I have two brain cells to rub together so I don’t act on every little thing. I can chose. Just like people can chose to be decent god damned people.

It’s not hard. It’s really not. Just follow the Golden Rule. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That’s it. If everyone would do that the world would be so much better. Another thing I noticed is that you can be a decent person simply by NOT doing things. That’s great if you’re lazy. Just like sometimes you don’t do the dishes, you can easily turn that into a good thing, by not being a dick. You don’t have to do anything extra.

Here’s another example. Someone requested this rant. I know their name. I could easily put their name in this rant. The problem is that this is a public website. Anyone with an internet connection can access it. That means that anyone with an internet connection could see their name. That’s why I decided not to include their name in it. It didn’t require any extra effort on my part, and now their privacy is guaranteed unless they decide otherwise.

I’ll end with Wheaton’s Law. “Don’t be a dick”.

EDITED: Because grammar is hard.