Conflict

Two posts today, and the more I think about it, I can relate them easily. With the dogs this morning, we saw "play" conflict, for the most part. Later on, we saw the real thing-- for no good reason.

After poodle play time today, Michael and I went for a ritual Starbucks visit, as we do many Sundays. As we walked around the little strip mall, we heard shouting. Apparently a passerby told a man who stopped along the fire lane that he wasn't supposed to be there. This resulted in a lot of yelling by the driver, punctuated with a lot of f****** this and that. He actually got out of the car and continued to yell obscenities and insults at the passerby.

This fit right in with a conversation we had about following the rules. We often break little rules- because they're inconvenient, or we think they're silly, or we think we're above them. When the driver was reminded he was breaking the rules, he went ballistic. Aren't rules supposed to help us avoid conflict or problems? Why are some people insulted when reminded that they're not following the rules?

Michael sometimes talks about the "outlaw" or "lawless" mentality that sometimes occurs in this part of the country. Is it only here? Is it a male thing? A societal thing? Is it the end of civility. I often wonder how human behavior evolves. Or has it always been this way?