So I have not written or posted in, like, YEARS. I normally write when I'm down or stressed or trying to figure some personal shit out. Writing helps me understand me and the world around me.
Writing calms me.
However today I am up at the butt crack of dawn - ready to WRITE. And, why, you ask? Because I am inspired! Happy! Feeling uber great and, well, I'll reiterate - inspired! (
Thanks, Jim.)
And mostly I am ready to jot my thoughts down after several years of getting back on the road to being my authentic self.
But that's a post for another time.
This morning I want to write about lines. Yes. Lines.
Single file lines, to be exact. You know, the single file lines people form in daily life. The single file line we, as little tiny humans, were taught to form in kindergarten whenever the class went somewhere as a group. Holding hands in a human chain link, walking directly behind the person in front of you, in complete unison. Or when you were waiting at the drinking fountain after P.E. class. Heck, I remember the nuns at my school lining us up by our shoes so the line was PERFECTLY straight! Yes, lines. The single file line that we as adults still form today.
Have you noticed that we still form single file lines?
Grocery stores. Banks, Fast food joints. DMV.
And, yes. Call me weird, but I've been thinking about line forming since the last time I lived in upstate New York. In fact it was there that I first noticed how friggin seriously people (grown ups) take their single file line forming.
I'll explain...
Back in 2010 I used to live about an hour's drive from my work in downtown Albany. So, since gas prices were outrageous and my daughter is all about being green and I loathe driving in gobs of traffic, I decided to take the commuter bus from my small town into work. It was quite the routine. Most of the other commuter bus riders had been riding this same bus for YEARS. They knew the routine. They perfected their process. On my local route there was no single line forming. People gathered at the exact same time every morning and as the bus pulled up to the stop, we all got on based on the unsaid hierarchy of who-got-here-first. It was a smooth process.
Then one day I was late for my local bus and had to ride a bus on the other side of town. So off I drove to the parking-lot to wait for the bus. I drove into the lot and saw something that hit me in a very odd way (obviously so odd that I am writing about it six years later).
People were in a perfectly straight single file line. And they weren't just in line. They were in line on the parking stripe. And the bus was no where in sight.
So I got out of my car and proceeded to wait NEXT to the line.
I did this because I thought, well, I don't know this process. I have questions for the driver and don't want to hold the routine riders up and make them have to wait for their seat. Basically, I thought I was being considerate of the other riders.
As I perched myself under the tree a few parking spaces away from the line to wait for the bus, a man shouted at me, "Hey! You have to get in line if you're waiting for the bus!" I smiled at him and politely said, "Oh, it's ok. I have questions, so I am going to get on last so I don't hold you up. But thank you!"
He gave me an odd look, then scowled, and proceeded to wait quietly in line.
The bus finally pulled up and the single file line of people got on. I went last, asked my questions, and took my seat. All was well.
The next day I decided I would try this bus again. I told myself I would take it because it was more convenient...but really, I just wanted to study this single file line forming process these people seemed to live and die by.
So off I went to the bus. And, yes. The single file line was there again. And jeesh! The bus wasn't due to arrive for at least another ten minutes! How long had these people been standing there?!
This is what I saw (yes this is the actual picture I shot of the actual line).
This time I decided I would not dare rouse the mob and just waited in the car until the bus arrived. I took this bus for a couple weeks. One time I did wait under that tree again - just as a social experiment. Yes, I got the evil sneers. No, I never joined the single file line. It just seemed silly to me. And so conformist! And as my friends well know...I don't conform very easily.
So then, years later, I was back in Idaho and found myself at a Walgreen's pharmacy. I was the 3rd person in line. And as all of us line forming humans know...that 3rd person in line is THE person who will determine the line's direction, flow, form. I noticed that more people started making their way to get in line and if I stood directly behind the person in front of me, the line would form in the aisle and then block shoppers from product. So, to be considerate of other shoppers, I decided to stand next to the woman in front of me in hopes the line would form in the pharmacy lobby area and out of the way. In fact, I'm pretty sure the lobby was set up with this very sort of line forming in mind.
But nope. The fourth, fifth, sixth person formed a single file line directly behind the woman in front of me, leaving me standing off to the side. And the line did just what I had feared - it went down the shopping aisle and shoppers were coming left and right trying desperately to break the line to get to the shampoo, razors and baby diapers. It was madness! People were flocking to the line in all directions! The line got longer and wrapped all along the main aisle blocking all other aisle entrances. And...WOULD PEOPLE KNOW I WAS IN LINE?!?! Would I have to wait behind the 15 or so people before I got my script? My heart was racing. Beads of sweat were forming on my brow. Will this nightmare never end?!
Fortunately, the person behind me was nice and let me go when it was my turn. The pharmacy backup people came to help and the line disappeared quickly. The madness ended.
I was so relieved.
Whew!!
Now, I don't have a strange aversion to line forming. And no, I am not an anarchist (which I was recently kiddingly asked when I told this story). I do see the value in line forming. Who wants mobs of people charging the checkstand? Not this gal! But I think about these rules that we humans have created. We create them initially to provide structure but yet we seem to allow the rules to run amok and eventually take priority over the consideration of others. We follow rules without much thought sometimes. We even make the rules more complex and stringent...I see this everyday with some of my clients. And for what? To make the world a better place? To ensure people's lives are enhanced and enriched and fulfilled?
I think we have good intentions when we create and follow rules. But when we do it without thought and just DO because it's what we DO, then don't you think that can be a bad thing? And what about the person who just wants to stand NEXT to the line? Why is that person labeled an anarchist, rebel, bad seed?
Well...I say, "Bad seeds, rise!"
What a wonderful thing to put consideration of others before a silly rule...
Much less a single file line.
