I think that many humans, especially in successful cultures, have reached a state where they have no real problems anymore. But instead of being happy about it, we find ourselves bored, and wishing that more was going on. So what do we do?
We invent problems.
I've started to use the term Drama-rama to describe this phenomenon. People get so bored that they start to try to find anything to fight about or be down about just so they can escape the monotony of leading a dull life. I think that the only solution is to this problem is to find something else to occupy our time. I've found that when things get busy, during finals for example, the drama-rama effect is at an all time low. When people are stressed naturally, we actually get along better. It's a bit cynical, and I'm not 100% sure it's accurate, but I think that it can be seen often in my own life.
Example:
At work one day a co-worker confronted everyone in the office trying to figure out who used the last paper towel in the bathroom. It's a particularly small operation, and there is no staff to refill things like that, so we keep a stocked closet in the bathroom with plenty of refills. I've personally been in the situation many times where there is no more TP or paper towels, and I have to grab them from the closet, but it never occurred to me to try to figure out who used the last one. In this case, when I was confronted, even though I knew I was not the guilty party, I let myself feed this drama-rama and it turned into an epic argument about the ethics of what things in the office should be refilled, and why. It was a totally bogus argument, but then again, being drilled about whether or not I was the guilty party was equally, if not more absurd. :)
Things like this happen every day, even as simple as giving weird looks, or wondering about why others are giving you weird looks, why do we do it?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
I was the one that used the last paper towel! And I admitted it when I was questioned. I think it was rude of me and I'm glad I was reminded, otherwise my bad habits would have continued. I think in this case a healthy dose of open mindedness is in order. Sometimes you may not think something is a problem, but other people consider your actions extremely rude. In that case, I think it is reasonable to stop the behavior. Maybe you aren't so much better than them and they really aren't trying to start drama, but trying to resolve a situation that sucks.
If you read this post and you think that I am claiming to be "so much better" than anyone, you are reading it wrong. The moral of the paper towel portion was that I was feeding/causing a drama-rama because I thought that it was silly to interogate everyone in the offce, but if you interpreted it as if the other person was causing ther darama-rama, I think I agree, there was a small scale Drama-rama before I ever got there... it's a double drama-rama. and acutally this blog post is a drama-rama itself! WHERE WILL THIS WILD WEB OF DRAMA END?!?! :)
Post a Comment