Mailbag #11

Anonymous asks:

What are some things that you are skeptical about in relation to other people?

1) Love at first sight. Infatuation can happen instantly, but I don’t think it’s possible to love someone you’ve just met (unless they’re a newborn and closely related to you). We all need time to get to know that person in a wide variety of situations because a huge part of loving someone is knowing them so well that you don’t have to ask how they’d react if their dog started quoting Shakespeare or marshmallows fell from the sky. You already know the answer.

Everyone is lovable to someone, of course, but no one loves every single person they meet. There simply isn’t enough time in the day to get to know the dozens (hundreds? thousands?) of people you regularly interact with that well.

2) The death of trick-or-treating. I’ve never had a neighbour child knock on my door to ask for candy at Halloween. It still happens to an extent out in the suburbs, but every year I’m a little sad that I don’t get to pass out the good candy and compliment the kids with creative costumes.  I was really looking forward to that stage in life, and I can’t understand why this tradition is fading away. Am I the only one who thinks there’s something wrong here? Halloween is the best holiday of the year! 🙂

3) Social media over-sharing. STFUParents and STFUCouples are prime examples of this. I know I’m a very private person about certain matters, but I can’t fathom how anyone would ever find it appropriate to share a photo of their child’s latest bowel movement or a graphic description of the sexual acts they wish to perform on their spouse or partner in such a public setting. To me it’s like sitting at Thanksgiving dinner, having your great-uncle ask what’s new in your life, and proceeding to share one of these stories. It’s not that changing your kid’s diaper or having a healthy sex life is shameful, I just don’t understand having such flimsy boundaries that you think it’s ok to invite everyone you know into those private moments.

On an unrelated note, I just signed up for an account at Ask.fm. It accepts anonymous questions from anyone, but if you decide to sign up for your own account (or if you have one already), let me know in the comment section!

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2 Responses to Mailbag #11

  1. Michael Mock

    It’s not just you. The “Halloween is Satanic!!! Not working? Okay, Trick or Treating could possibly be dangerous in some nebulous but parent-scaring fashion!” folks drive me right up the wall. Now, we do get trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood, but given the number of families living around here, not nearly as many as we should.

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