Often I look for a reason not to speak up about things. I am also super uncomfortable engaging in judgement of people. I am happy to condemn many behaviors (eating with your mouth open), things I don't believe have a soul (like corporations), and things that are fictional (Frodo sucks); but people, that just makes me feel sick.
So I keep what I have to say to myself, and often shock people when I do speak up. Sometimes I am dead wrong about things, but often I realize that some folks just don't see things they way I do. Trying to explain to folks how I accomplish things that seem amazing, but are really simple for me, is very frustrating. How I talk to cops is a good example.
I have rarely driven with insurance, but the only time I have ended up with a ticket, for the lack of proof, was the one time I got into an accident while I was driving. I have been pulled over several times, and yet the one ticket I got was for not wearing a seat belt.
I'm very good at demonstrating how harmless a person I am and relating to police. I never show fear, just overwhelming friendly curiosity about anything other than where my registration and insurance is in the car. I will talk about how there night has been, what their favorite part of their job is, what hobbies and interests we might share, and always concern that I might be keeping them from something important. This usually ends with me and the officer shaking hands, and occasionally them coming back after I've said goodbye to let me know, in an apologetic tone, why they originally pulled me over before heading back to their car to leave. I don't think I have ever actually shown a police officer my insurance (if I had it) and sometimes not even my license.
It seems obvious to me how this works out, but I can't conceive of how to explain it better than that. It is the same with other things like raising the minimum wage. I firmly believe in raising it, and yet I meet people who say it won't help. They like to point out how it will just increase the cost of living, but seem to miss the fact that the cost of living hasn't stopped going up even as the minimum wage stagnated 30 years ago.
So I keep what I have to say to myself, and often shock people when I do speak up. Sometimes I am dead wrong about things, but often I realize that some folks just don't see things they way I do. Trying to explain to folks how I accomplish things that seem amazing, but are really simple for me, is very frustrating. How I talk to cops is a good example.
I have rarely driven with insurance, but the only time I have ended up with a ticket, for the lack of proof, was the one time I got into an accident while I was driving. I have been pulled over several times, and yet the one ticket I got was for not wearing a seat belt.
I'm very good at demonstrating how harmless a person I am and relating to police. I never show fear, just overwhelming friendly curiosity about anything other than where my registration and insurance is in the car. I will talk about how there night has been, what their favorite part of their job is, what hobbies and interests we might share, and always concern that I might be keeping them from something important. This usually ends with me and the officer shaking hands, and occasionally them coming back after I've said goodbye to let me know, in an apologetic tone, why they originally pulled me over before heading back to their car to leave. I don't think I have ever actually shown a police officer my insurance (if I had it) and sometimes not even my license.
It seems obvious to me how this works out, but I can't conceive of how to explain it better than that. It is the same with other things like raising the minimum wage. I firmly believe in raising it, and yet I meet people who say it won't help. They like to point out how it will just increase the cost of living, but seem to miss the fact that the cost of living hasn't stopped going up even as the minimum wage stagnated 30 years ago.
If the minimum wage was adjusted for inflation and cost of living every year that would actually slow the rise in cost of living. There wouldn't be a reason to actually raise the cost of products to compensate for workers wages because it would end up being a zero sum game. Prices would raise and then wages would go up and then prices would raise and then wages would go up and it would be a weird cycle that no one would bother to continue to perpetuate overtime.
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