PhillySpeak.com

Sartre said, “Hell is other people”.

Living in a large city you can sometimes agree. Maybe those in a smaller town reading this will also agree.

The person on their cell phone, driving, doing forty miles an hour on I-95 or any 55mph highway, and barely staying in their lane.

The person you hold open the door for who walks through as though you were a doorman, no thank you, no nod of the head, no reconigtion of your very small kindness.

The driver in bumper to bumper traffic that believes they will get there faster if they switch from lane to lane. The person, again when driving, you let in line from a side street or out of a parking garage who does not give you a thank you wave. The person who drops litter out of their car window or when walking along the street, or better yet, they stop the car, open the door, and gently place what is trash from their visit to Micky D’s, onto the asphalt.

All of those people as you walk along the streets of our neighborhoods whose eyes you meet, and you say, “Hello”, and they walk on by as though you are invisible.

Alert! When you are going outside it means you are going outside your home and outside your self. You will encounter others. Be prepared to say hello and smile at those outside your inside comfort zone. Test your voice out before you leave your dwelling, say a few hello’s outloud, look in the mirror and test out your smile. You live in the city of brotherly love, get with the program.

We are able to tolerate and sometimes enjoy a conversation overheard from a too loud dining couple or riders on a bus, but save me from the overly loud young woman who; speaks every sentence? As though it were a question? Like this? If you get my meaning? You know?. She is on a cell phone? in her own self-important world? with a vocabulary of fiftythree words, you know?

It will take me some getting used to people walking down the street having animated conversations, waving their arms, making gestures with their hands….me, turning around…..are you speaking to..…and realizing they have a near invisible phone attached behind their ear, and are conversing with a friend as though they are alone with them in a private room. The worst part is if they are starting a conversation and you are in hearing distance….Hi! howya doin? Gets me every time.

Annoyances all.

Perhaps it is only because we cannot hear the other side of these conversations that make them so annoying, so intolerable. They are one way, un-understandable conversation.

I enjoy hearing others conversations when they think I can’t or don’t care. People’s private lives are quite interesting. I have been at restaurants where, at our table, we all became silent in order to hear the goings on at another table. …..so you are married to the ambassador, that is not enough for you, you, yourself want power. Being married to him has never been enough for you. You want to be as recognized as him or more so. So what are you going to do about it? I have seen this in you since college. You play the second fiddle but deep in your heart and soul you want to lead the band, so what are you going to do about it?…….and so the conversation went on, really quite interesting..

As interesting as it was, the couple became so loud I wanted to bring to their attention they were not as important as they were loud, obnoxious, and delusional but our curiosity kept us quiet, until they left abruptly.

Afterward, at home, I googled for pictures and what little clues they left of their identity but I was unable to match pictures or clues. Still they were interesting, though too loud.

Being loud on a cell phone is another matter. Again, perhaps if we could hear both sides of the conversation we would not complain so much. So much is lost with a one way conversation. It is just distracting and, simply noise, too close for comfort. There is no satisfaction in it. Next time you hear one of these one way conversations, listen and see if you don’t agree. Thay should make phones where you can hear both sides.