The Idiot Who Cut Me Off

Sometimes I forget that people are people.

Does that make sense?

I was reminded this weekend to see a person in every person. A soul in every body. An individual in every human. And this is the most important rule that I hang on to.

There's something called the fundamental attribution error (FAE), which you probably have heard of if you've taken an introductory psychology course. (If you didn't hear about it in your class, you probably weren't paying attention, or your teacher was totally robbing you of important information.) Now, sorry to break it to you dear friends of mine, but humans make a lot of mistakes that we are not always aware of. The basic idea of the FAE is that we tend to overestimate how much someone else's personal attributes are influencing their actions, and we underestimate how much that someone's situation is influencing their actions. Por ejemplo...

Have you ever been cut off by that idiot during rush hour? He's a total a**hole, right? But here's another question, and be honest about this one. Have you ever cut someone off during rush hour? Chances are you have, and you probably don't consider yourself a bad person. If you have ever cut someone off, you may have had a perfectly good reason (the guy behind you was about to rear-end your car). Do you see what I'm getting at?

I've noticed that I become much less judgmental when I admit that I don't know the situations that people are in. The driver who I think is recklessly speeding may have a friend in the hospital. The teacher who I think is inconsiderate of her students may be going through a divorce. The person drinking the energy drink may have had to stay up all night with a sick child. It's really hard to give people excuses for their actions. But I'm not giving them excuses. I'm simply trying to put myself in their shoes, and acknowledging the fact that I will probably never know why the person in the suit is yelling over the phone. Perhaps they are really mean, but perhaps they are expressing their frustration at some unmentionable injustice. Perhaps it's a combination of the two.

It's the last day of 2013. Tonight, when you look around at the people at the party, or the restaurant, or even the TV, give them a chance to be a person.

Happy last day of 2013! :)


TL;DR: A person's a person, if only you notice.

The Best Food Advice You'll Ever Get

Read this article. It will take one minute, and it is the best advice I have ever read about food and dieting. Kudos to the author for being so concise and conscientious of various people's needs.

:)

Free Online Movie Till December 10th!

If you haven't watched Food Matters yet, and you don't have a Netflix account to watch it on, the movie is free on their website until December 10th :)

It really is an awesome movie, and a great way to spend a weekend evening. Here is the link to the movie.

Enjoy!

Fluke

I am looking for food.

I am finding leftover soup.

I am heating it up.

I am putting my dog on my bed.

I am fetching the soup.

I am sitting on my bed.

I am looking for something to watch on YouTube.

I am watching the screen.

My dog is watching me.

I am closing my computer.

I am scratching his ears.

I am talking to him.

I am listening to his sniffs.

I am having a meal with my best friend.

I needed him to remind me that I cannot substitute a moment with a friend for any electronic gadget in the world.

Happy Sunday :)

TL;DR: A friend a day keeps the sadness away.

It's not Christmas, it's the Day After Thanksgiving.

I detest Black Friday, and it's really hard to look on the positive side of things today.

What gets me riled up? People getting up at ridiculous hours of the morning to stand in line in below freezing weather so they can buy things they don't need. Nothing does the job better.

We live in America, friends. Where apparently more is better. And more is never enough. We should rebel against this mentality! Let's be rebels together!

Here are 50 things to do other than get mauled by shoppers today. I stumbled upon this website (not actually using StumbleUpon, and how weird is it that I feel I have to explain myself for using that phrase?) and it seems awesome. Their slogan? "Finding the Satisfaction of Enough." Love it :)


If you would like to use some of your day off reading about how our culture provokes things like Black Friday, instead of actually participating in such vile events (am I being too harsh?), here is an absolutely mind-blowing article that puts together the pieces.

Lalala.

After living in Italy for a few months, coming back to America was weird. Everything is so rushed and urgent. Eating with your family is not a priority here. Eating quality food is not a priority here. Dressing up every day in presentable, flattering
clothes is not a priority here. I am generalizing. I know there are people here who love all these things, but I definitely feel like the minority.

Anyway, I am spending my day-after-Thanksgiving organizing my room, doing homework, and thinking of what I will make or buy for my family and friends this year. I think that is much more productive than being fooled by retailers into spending lots of mulah.

Make a delicious cheesecake, or get trampled by shoppers? I'll take the former.

TL;DR: Fun fact: Black Friday only became the biggest shopping day of the year in 2005. Hmmm...

The Best and Worst of Thanksgiving

Best

• having the day off
• having the day off to see family and friends
• having the day off to sit and eat good food
• dressing up, or dressing down
• mandatory family gatherings
• mandatory giving of thanks
• optional food baby

Worst

• recipes gone wrong
• you only get ONE day off to sit and eat good food with friends and family
• impending Black Friday insanity

I know some stores were open today. That makes me sad. I wish everyone were able to take a day off to spend time with their loved ones. Like in Italy. Everything's closed on holidays. You can't even get toothpaste. But everyone survives. You can just brush your teeth tomorrow, no big deal.

Deal... deal? Black Friday deals? Please someone explain this day that cripples my soul. The day that has become the very embodiment of what is wrong with America.

For tonight, we can be content. I hope your belly is full as you read this. I hope you have somewhere warm to sleep tonight. I hope you had real people to hug and talk to today, and didn't spend the day on the Internet.

Get ready for my Black Friday post. It's coming.

TL;DR: Happy Thanksgiving :)

Thanksgiving Work Week Day #3: I am Homo sapien and so are you

I am going into the world of religion and nationality, goodness help me.


Have you ever heard someone say, "She's French, but her husband is Jewish."
or
"I hear you're marrying a Canadian guy. Is that going to work, since you're Muslim?"
or
"Are you making apple pie tonight? I can bring some oranges."

To me they all sound like the last one. I have been hearing religion compared to nationality my entire life. Well, it doesn't make sense. You can't compare a belief system to your place of birth/living. Why do people do this?! It drives me insane!!!

We're all human, baby!

So this holiday season (can you smell the cinnamon and nutmeg yet?), be aware that people may celebrate in ways that combine a nation's traditions and a religion's holiday, and any combination is A-OK. (As long as we're all playing nice.) My family is Polish, but we celebrate an American holiday. Your family might be Buddhist and celebrate Hannukah. Who knows? And honestly, who cares? As long as celebrations/traditions are treated with due respect, I think all kinds can be celebrated by whoever wants.

Regarding the history of Thanksgiving, I don't know enough about the complicated going-ons of Europeans and Native Americans to discuss it, but I do know one thing. The fact the humans have so many different cultures is amazing and beautiful, but thinking that we are not all in this together is pretty dumb. So go crazy today after you get off work and go hug a fellow human or something. :)

You can even play this, and make a dance party:

Maybe you need something a little less enthusiastic (and less painful):

TL;DR: "I'm made of atoms, you're made of atoms, we're all in this together." Ben Lee