You're the Best

I think we all need to feel superior to other people in some way. Not necessarily anything big, but in small, everyday experiences. It's more psychological security than anything malicious, and if we learned the ways other people felt superior to us we would probably laugh.

I just had one of those experiences when I used a public restroom and the water that was coming out of the sink was warm. For some weird reason I almost always wash my hands with cold water, even in the winter. It probably goes back to my weird ideas about choosing to experience discomfort.

(Tangent: I swear I've posted about this before, but I can't find it. One of the things I like about running, especially if it's too cold or too hot to be sensible, is that it exposes me to uncomfortable conditions that we don't experience very often in life. We're so used to constant comfort that having to experience any real hardship would be even more difficult for us. So I strap on the ice spikes and head out in zero degrees, or take the stairs every day, just to keep myself grateful for the comforts I experience almost all the time.)

Anyway, the hand-washing thing, or always returning shopping carts, or carefully pronouncing words that are commonly slurred (Feb-ru-ary) are tiny ways I can somehow feel like I'm superior. It's absolutely ridiculous, but I think we all do it. Think about it for a little while, and then fess up in the comments. What do you do that makes you feel better than other people?

Comments

)en said…
Which is funny, because you feel superior washing your hands with cold water and I'm over here thinking, eww you won't kill any germs that way. This is not to say I always wash my hands with warm water, as it takes 5 millennia to even get warm in my house and ain't nobody got time for that. It's a real treat when I go someplace where it is warm. But I am intrigued by the kinds of things that might make one feel superior, compared to another.

I'm trying to think of an example. Ok, here's one. Whenever I drive on a roundabout, I use my turn signal when I'm exiting. Nobody does this around here. Well, on a roundabout or otherwise, now that I mention it. But especially on roundabouts. Also, nobody knows how roundabouts are used, I am convinced. Yield? That's a funny word! I have watched so many people cut off a school bus in the morning bc they don't want to wait. It's so reckless. And I know the bus driver has had it because they honk their horn repeatedly, as they should. "Rightly so!" I mentally shout out my window. A neighbor recently brought it to my attention that he had cut me off on a roundabout recently and felt bad about it. It took me a minute to recall but I did. I hadn't known it was him at the time but I remembered I honked at him and had to hit my brakes. He explained, "... but I was like, if they're going to go that slow, I'm going to go!" To which I stare, superiorally. Superiorly. With superior? Now this word sounds like nonsense. I have been keeping a list of "issues" i have lately, specifically for the purpose of rant-blogging. Maybe I'll work on that one now.

Joel said…
Okay, I've never been convinced that washing hands in warm water is better than cold. I mean, food has to be cooked to 145 (pork) or higher to kill bacteria, right? That would burn your hands right off. But there is another benefit, according to the New York Times.

"In its medical literature, the Food and Drug Administration states that hot water comfortable enough for washing hands is not hot enough to kill bacteria, but is more effective than cold water because it removes oils from the hand that can harbor bacteria."

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