Today I realized I am old. I became an old person somehow... or maybe I was just born old, who knows? Today, after fighting all day on the phone, I realized it.
What made me realize that is my ever growing lack of tolerance to new people. Every time I meet someone, I realize I don't like them. Most of the times it is because of the trades of their age, which I probably had at their age. To my defense, I was not a big fan then either and it also happens to me with people my own age or older. I do think I have always been old.
So, in order to lose ALL my followers, and the occasional blog tourist that might have ended up here, I will explain the things I don't like about people:
1) The need to challenge everything.
I know, right? We are all wrong. Everything is wrong. The rules are wrong. The unwritten rules are also wrong. I do believe in fighting for your ideas; and I am certain that there are a bunch of things that need to be challenged. However, I also believe that in order to challenge the status quo, a lot of research is required. It is important to understand all backgrounds, consider all implications, imagine all different outcomes, and then and only then, challenge. If people did this with everything they challenge, all their challenges would take 2 weeks. So, instead of choosing their battles, what people do is challenge everything without the required background. That means you have to explain everything 4 times. That wastes my time, I hate it.
2) They do not answer the question
Another thing that wastes everybody's time is when you ask a question and you get either another question ans an answer, or an answer to a different question. In my experience, this happens more, but is not exclusive to Latin Americans, who are somehow very afraid of saying no (I wonder if that explains the drug abuse and unwanted pregnancy rates in our countries). You ask somebody: "Do you have an apple?" and they will answer: "Green or Red?" That's failure one: answer with another question. I just wanted to know if you had apples, I don't care what kind. If I was interested on what kind of apples do you have, I would have asked. The other possible answer would be: "I had apples yesterday, but I ran out of them. I already ordered more, I should have apples next Tuesday." Failure number two: excessive information. Again, that is not what I asked, you are wasting my time again, a simple "No." would have sufficed.
3) The need to top you
So you go to your friend and say: "This thing happened to me, what do you think?" They will answer: "The same thing happened to me, but it was 10 times worse because on top of that, I was in the North Pole in a bikini!" First of all, that is again, not answering the question. Second of all, I am currently not interested in what you have to say. I started this conversation and I selfishly wanted to talk about me. There will be time for your experience, I promise! Third: why the need to top? If something similar happen to you, and you think you have good advice to give, fine, give it, just don't show off, man!
4) The need to convince you
This is probably the one that bothers me most. If you made it to here on this post, you can probably imagine I am not the most sociable nor patient person in the World. Well, imagine how I feel when I say: "I am afraid of butterflies" and people try to convince me that they are not harmful or lethal. I know they are not, I know you love them, I know you put them on girl's clothes. I hate them and that's that. I don't have to like them just because you do! The same thing happens with much more controversial topics, like the death penalty or abortion. Why would you want me to have the same point of view that you have??? I like hearing your arguments, that's what makes a conversation. In fact, if you did all your research and you have a strong point of view based on that research, I will enjoy it even more. However, at the end of our conversation, I do not have to feel the same way!!! I can have a totally opposed point of view, and that is OK because you need to trust I did my research too. Don't try to convince me because I am not in the Supreme Court. Send a letter to your congressman.
In a nutshell, that's why I'm old and have only like five friends.
