Inconsiderate People, also known as Idiots

I saw this post going differently.  I had envisioned writing about the glory of a 3-day weekend, including a few random pics, and looking forward to a 4-day week instead of the ho-hum monotonous 5-day.  But I just had an experience in the gym that sent all that goodwill flying out the window and so you get this rant instead.

During the weeks, my workouts are usually crammed into 30 minutes each night, after work, after a minimum of 2 hours in the car that day, usually more, and before I take my carpool buddy home (or vice versa).  On the weekends, I try to take my time in the gym, and often this means grabbing a good book and spending an hour or so on the stationary bike.  Today the gym was fairly empty, and I sat amongst a few older people, all spinning away.  About twenty minutes into my workout (and my novel), a lady bounced over to the bike next to mine, chirping on her cell phone and proceeded to start working out.  Of course there are signs all over the gym that instruct people not to talk on their phones.  These signs include the words, "out of courtesy to others..."  I glanced over at her, she met my eye and kept chatting.  A few minutes later, I gave up and left the machine.

I went over to a set of treadmills, thinking I could walk at a medium speed for a while and continue reading.  As Murphy's Law would have it, I ended up next to a lady who stood still on her treadmill's belt and talked on the phone for over ten minutes.  I counted.  On a still machine in the middle of a whirlwind of movement, there she was, cackling and just chatting away.  Just standing there.  I don't know if people don't know the rules, don't care about breaking them, or just don't think they apply to them personally.  All I know is that it's not even 4 p.m. and I'm cracking open the wine bottle.

I harped to G for a while and he nodded vigorously and approvingly at my outrage.  He chimed right in and together we threw out an alarmingly long list of offenses, often involving people who should be watching their kids, but aren't, or who shouldn't be talking on their cell phones, but are. 

And even as I type these words that I want to make more scathing, I know that I fall into multiple categories that send other people into the loving arms of alcohol before dinner time.  But I just want to say that you don't find many more loyal rule-followers than me.  I'm the person who finds myself dumping (accidentally) a buggy packed with groceries onto the 15-items-or-less counter and then cowering in shame, smiling meekly at those behind me in line, and pointing out to each of them that I am, in fact, an idiot.  Let me get on my high horse and declare firmly that you would never find me on my cell phone in the gym.  If you did, I would not be talking about cake mixes at 7500 decibels.  I would be skulking somewhere in the back of the locker room, or worse, in the frigid parking lot, probably still whispering and rudely hurrying the person on the other end of the line.

I should be ranting and raving about real problems:  world hunger, poverty, injustices that span the globe of this fallen world we live in.  It's a sign of my extreme privilege that I would even peck out a post in annoyance at a pet peeve so small and insignificant.  It's just that I don't find it insignificant;  I find it yet another sign, in combination with daily signs around here, that people see themselves as fully entitled to their own convenience, often at the sake of others' inconvenience, and I think that's a sign of growing narcissism and greed.  One person's lack of courtesy for another person says, "I matter more than you do right now," and from there it's a slippery slope to, "I'm better than you."

I heard a Timothy Keller sermon once on Creation in Genesis.  We know that we are made in God's image, but we often forget that so is everyone else.  Even non-Christians, even people who believe very strongly in things we don't.  Even people who deny God.  To be a human means to be created by a Being so loving and powerful that He bestowed His very image onto us.  And that is why we should never call our "brother" a "fool" or the nitwits in the gym idiots.   And I know this.  But God help me because they sure seem like idiots to me.