Jaded?

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I left work early yesterday and headed home to enjoy the amazing weather. I stopped at Exxon to grab some gas. (I was unarmed, I work at a base).

As my vehicle was filling up a guy across from me was filling up his vehicle and struck up a conversation. It was pleasant, no real topic, asked a few questions about my car since it is new, he was driving a late model Lincoln. He kept his distance and stayed by his vehicle.

But the entire time I was there talking to him, I was thinking - what is his angle. People just don't start up conversations with strangers anymore. Everyone is trying to one up everyone else somehow.

And that is when I realized, living in such an urban area has ruined my faith in man kind. I miss the rural farm life.

Anyone else feel that the "threat assessment" part of your brain has taken over at times and turned you jaded?

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hsmith wrote:

I left work early yesterday and headed home to enjoy the amazing weather. I stopped at Exxon to grab some gas. (I was unarmed, I work at a base).

As my vehicle was filling up a guy across from me was filling up his vehicle and struck up a conversation. It was pleasant, no real topic, asked a few questions about my car since it is new, he was driving a late model Lincoln. He kept his distance and stayed by his vehicle.

But the entire time I was there talking to him, I was thinking - what is his angle. People just don't start up conversations with strangers anymore. Everyone is trying to one up everyone else somehow.

And that is when I realized, living in such an urban area has ruined my faith in man kind. I miss the rural farm life.

Anyone else feel that the "threat assessment" part of your brain has taken over at times and turned you jaded?

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Yes. It's sad, andI miss living in a small town. I don't really talk to people in the city, and I would have been nervous talking to the guy too. It's a crappy feeling.

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http://youtube.com/watch?v=TAVEXE6ADcs

"No Country for Old Men"

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Being jaded and cynical isn't bad - at least it's a pleasant surprise when you're wrong about people.

-ljp

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Legba wrote:

Being jaded and cynical isn't bad - at least it's a pleasant surprise when you're wrong about people.

-ljp

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A pleasant and rare surprise. Even here.

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Yeah, the downside is that I'm seldom wrong about people. ;-/

-ljp

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Yesterday I pulled up to work. Had to leave it in the car, company policy. Was walking to the building and a guy i had noticed standing in the parking lot walked up to me and started talking to me. "Hey I noticed temp tags on your mustang there. You just buy it? blah blah blah..."

He followed me inside, to the elevator, in the elevator. He pushed the fourth floor I pushed the second. It's an office building with several different offices and although he wasn't dressed in business attire he could've worked in any one of them.

The whole time I'm checking out his clothes for weapon prints and wondering how I'm gonna kill this guy, looking for others in the parking lot, etc.

I know exactly how you feel.

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I live in a fairly small town and day to day do not encounter much of that. But my fiancee lives in the suburbs of a large city. When I am up there or visiting family in IL, I am much more on alert, pushing into condition orange often. That is especially true in IL as I cannot be armed and so am even more on edge and the crime rates are higher pushing me up from yellow regularly. So yes, I do understand. My fiancee and family often ask why I seem so on edge when we are out and about in their locals. I have tried to explain it to them but mostly they don't share the perspective.

If I had to live in an urban area or IL I would be exhausted all the time from maintaining that level of alertness. I would probably have a heart attack in a week from the stress.

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deepdiver wrote:

I live in a fairly small town and day to day do not encounter much of that. But my fiancee lives in the suburbs of a large city. When I am up there or visiting family in IL, I am much more on alert, pushing into condition orange often. That is especially true in IL as I cannot be armed and so am even more on edge and the crime rates are higher pushing me up from yellow regularly. So yes, I do understand. My fiancee and family often ask why I seem so on edge when we are out and about in their locals. I have tried to explain it to them but mostly they don't share the perspective.

If I had to live in an urban area or IL I would be exhausted all the time from maintaining that level of alertness. I would probably have a heart attack in a week from the stress.

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I had to live for 3+ years with that, it led me to clinical depression. Continious stress can really hurt you.

I have found city people just don't seem to get ruffled by the crime rate around them, but anyone from a rural area will be on edge, but are seldom on edge in the rural area. For me I get pretty relaxed in the little PA towns, but if I go down towards Baltimore, the cond yellow gets going big time. I also start walking "tough". The same deal as you- the city folk likley wonder why I am all edgy in their area. Heck I grew up on the edge of the city in a pretty nice neighborhood( age 4 to 16), but it would cause me to be a little edgy today, not as nice as it once was, though still ok.

When I lived near dowtown Baltimore where I was about in cond orange all the time, I noticed the other college kids LIKED being in the city, esp this gal from York PA who called York " totally boring". Well I guess sirens wailing 24/7, noisy cars and trucks,and criminals running around IS exciting, huh? How about the gunshots heard at night? Yeah that's exciting, esp the possible stray bullets! Ain't nothing more exciting than 8 cop cars zooming by in single file, sirens off but all the lights on! Oh yeah add to it the hot humid summers and all the mosquitos that are in the city but in very few #'s in the countryside to the north. I had to wear long sleeves and pants at night in the city, or I would be eaten alive.