The Idiosyncrasies of Human Nature

My post content

Human nature is a funny thing. I just witnessed on my way to work a young girl, around my age, maybe slightly younger, go out of her way to turn her head and give a questionable expression towards two people who were running around the corner past us to get on the metro we just had gotten off. It's not that I didn't agree with her at that moment to a certain extent. Those two people had plenty of time before the metro doors were going to close and could make it there from the distance they were at using a brisk paced walk at most. But regardless, something about the moment stirred up an emotion within the girl exiting the metro in front of me, strong enough that she went out of her way to turn her head and make a face of disgust could I call it?

Well the irony of it all is that no shorter than a minute later as we both continue moving on with our morning commute transfers in the station, I see that same girl in the distance doing what? The loudspeaker announces that her train will be arriving in the next minute and I see her pick up speed and not just into a fast paced power walk, but nothing other than what I would describe as a trot.

I find it curious how we work as humans. It's interesting to me the way that one minute earlier mysterious metro commute girl had an emotion so strong internally that she visibly could not, or maybe just did not, hide it from her face to the point the observant bystander could see her dismay. Less than a minute later to only forget such dismay or quite possibly just dismiss it all together, so that it fits into her personal issues and problems at that moment.

I thought to myself, imagine if you went up to her right now and gave her an impromptu interview about what you observed. When you asked for her commentary, what would she say? But really putting her on the spot like that wouldn't do much, or at least I think not, for the point I am trying to get across right now. The point in while I would like to highlight an example of the curiosities of human nature.

It was easy from our point of view, the mysterious commuter girl and I, that the two people running to get on the metro had plenty of time and no reason at all to run at that distance and point. But clearly we would know that. We ourselves had just gotten off the metro. We commute this route every day and know how long on adverage it takes every day for the doors to close on the metro. Our experiences and situation in that exact moment made us what you could call experts on that specific situation at that specific time.

What it doesn't make us experts on is our running friends. We don't know where they are coming from, maybe they had been running for awhile and in fact it was necessary for them to run in order to make that rain because the origional distance they are coming from is much farther. And quite possibly due to them running they did in fact make that metro that for all we know was ciritical for them to make so they could arrive to an important meeting or event. And those two don't know how long the metro doors have been open for. Even if they also are fellow commuters, because if i make that assumption about mysterious morning commuter girl it would only be fair I make the same one about them, they didn't see when the metro doors had opened from around the corner. All they knew was the visiual information in front of them and what they had was a metro unloading full of people and a unknown small opportunity for them to get on before it was too late. In the end, even with all these things considered, what do we care. Why does someone running past her to make it on the metro have such a profound effect on mysterious morning commute girl?

What does it say about me as human who observed this series of events? Who I am to judge her? I don't know mysterious commuter girls mind, how her morning has gone, how life in general has been recently for her. I know that when I am tired or life is bringing me down, I am much easier to be irritated. I know that my mood is directly correlated with my responses for the good and the bad.

So yeah the commute to work this morning stirred up some thoughts in my head. Read and do with this as you will. Just a little bit of my own personal insight from my start to the day this morning.