Too much "sharing." Old Coot article published 07/10/24

 The Old Coot learned to share in Kindergarten.

By Merlin Lessler

 

When we are little kids, our parents strive to teach us to share. It gets us started, especially if we have siblings. We don’t especially like it, unless it’s our turn to be the one on the receiving end. The training really ramps up when we go to school, kindergarten in my day, pre-school these days. I still remember my first week in Kindergarten. My neighborhood friend, Woody, and I raced to the toy cupboard when our ABC’s and Shoe tying lessons were over. He grabbed a metal fire engine; I snagged an ambulance. Then, a giant of a kid came over, pushed us aside and grabbed them away from us. “You can’t play with these; they’re mine!” It was our first, of many to come, encounters with Butchy, a bully that harassed us for years, often sitting on his bicycle on the playground with a baseball bat resting on his shoulder. He wasn’t afraid to take a swing. Fortunately, he always missed; he was pretty uncoordinated. He didn’t learn to share. But we sure did.

 

Now, my issue is with the people who share too much. Like the loud guy (big mouth) talking into his cellphone in a restaurant or other public place. It’s even worse when he has his speaker on and we get blasted with both sides of the conversation. Also, the driver with an expensive stereo system, blasting so loud that anyone sitting near him at a stop light gets clobbered with noise. He’s “SHARING.” It’s so loud, that were he in a workplace, OSHA would deem it in violation of the 85 DBA noise limit.

 

How about the guy whose car exhaust system has been modified; you can hear him coming two blocks away. Some Harley motorcycle guys do the same, sending a blatting crescendo of engine noise across the roadway. “Look at me; I ride a Harley!” Most Harley riders, the ones with standard exhaust systems, resent the blatting rider too. It gives them a bad reputation.  

 

The world is full of oversharing people. The ones whose dogs bark all day long, the bands in bars and restaurants who crank up the volume so high you can’t talk to the person next to you. There are way too many sharers out there, including some of the advertisers on TV that raise the volume of their ads, in violation of the FCC rules; it appears that FCC is asleep at the wheel. My list of over-sharers is pretty long. How about yours?

 Comments? Complaints?  Send to mlesler7@gmail.com