Alan: Double Standards

My sincerest apologies for not posting in the last couple of weeks. With midterms, papers, reading, and school generally, I have been lacking in ideas and blogging. Although I am still not up to par with great ideas for blogs, I will at least be posting something this week.

In a write-in, I recieved a blog idea that highlights double standards in this world. The thing is, people like double standards...when they are the ones who benefit from them. You want to be able to do what you like, without others doing some of those very things to you.

There are many examples of contradictions. One of my favorites is the driver/pedestrian stand-off. When you are a driver, you want pedestrians to get out of your way so that you can make your right turn. When you are a pedestrian, you want drivers to slow down and just let you walk across the street without looking mad at you.

People want to have their cake and eat it too. I am honestly not sure how this phrase applies to this scenario, because what is the point of having cake if you cannot eat it...but this phrase is still always said in regards to these sorts of situations.

The person writing in to me pointed out that women look to men to be morons. In sit-coms the man messes things up, and the wife sweeps in to fix it. The write-in noted that women often will sit around talking about how foolish or moronic their male friends are. Then, they sit around and complain to these men for leaving the toilet seat up. If women know that men are morons, they ought to just check the seat before sitting down. (These are, again, the words of my write-in friend.)

Generally speaking, I think that contradictions, and double standards are informed by our sense of individuality, and looking out for number one. The more that we think just about ourselves, and our own wants and desires, the more that we end up upsetting others. We spend a lot of time looking at how our own situation is, instead of looking at the realities held by other people.

This is, however, not always the case. Some double standards are born out of thinking about other people. For example, in a lot of households, daughters are held to stricter rules about dating, curfews, or other such parental guidelines than sons. This is often chalked up to safety rules, and looking out for the daughter. Is there validity in this, or is this unfair?

Let's let go of our frustrations with double standards. Let's think about the driver when we are walking, or the pedestrian when we are driving. The more that we focus on how other people may be feeling, or what may be going on in their lives, the greater we show compassion for humanity. I think that a simple small act made on a daily basis can be a powerful symbol. A symbol for peace.