Open letter

[heatray5d]

An open letter to the guy on the train this morning listening to The White Stripes with no headphones on his Galaxy SIII:

Dear Sir,
Stephen Covey, rest his soul, has a great aphorism, which starts out "Seek first to understand." If you are at all interested in being a decent human being, that's a pretty good phrase to start with. I understand it as a reminder to remember you're not the center of the universe, and to recognize that in any situation there's more going on than you can immediately see. If you strive to understand another person's perspective, you will often find that you share common ground, which can allow you to arrive at a mutually agreeable solution to almost any challenge.

Interestingly enough, one of the stories that Covey told in association with this aphorism involves an experience he had on a train. Isn't that funny?

So I'd like to apologize to you for saying you were "really fucking annoying." I had just been woken up from a fairly deep sleep by Jack White's voice, which I'm sure you'll agree is roughly equivalent to someone waking you up by sticking the tip of his semihard dick right in your ear.

Or maybe you wouldn't. I guess you probably actually like The White Stripes, which is weird, but whatever. I like a lot of weird stuff too, so I don't want to judge someone's taste.

Anyway, I feel bad about being surly right after waking up. After all, I was sleeping on the train. Maybe I'm doubly rude for swearing at you, and for sleeping in a public place near where you were going to listen to music on your phone.

Speaking of which, that's a nice phone, the Galaxy SIII. Expensive, right? You'd think a phone that expensive would come with headphones. Or that someone who could afford a phone like that could ALSO afford a ten-dollar pair of headphones from CVS.

But maybe I'm making judgments based on my own perspective. I'm assuming based on your phone (well, and your complexion, and your apparent gender, which maybe makes me an asshole because now that I'm writing this out I realize how many unfair heteronormative patriarchal assumptions are packed into the next statement) that, like me, you are a relatively wealthy white male. I have literally five pairs of headphones that work with my phone. Which was why I didn't worry about loaning you the pair I had in my bag and then going back to sleep.

I just probably could have done it without swearing at you, for which I actually do feel really bad. That was uncalled for. So, sorry.

And thanks for giving me the headphones back as you got off the train. That was actually really nice, considering I had gone back to sleep and you totally could have just walked away with them.

Comments

[heatray.livejournal.com]

I don't think it was ever not a thing. Remember when we were kids there were people who just walked around with boom boxes on their shoulders. Phones have just replaced portable stereos and enabled everyone with the inclination to be an obnoxious douchebag.

It's the democratizing effect of technology!