Check ourselves before we wreck ourselves.

I have noticed something in the busy world and it’s a little depressing. The robotic nature of people on the go is everywhere. Maybe I am more sensitive to this because I have a son I was told would be this way when it comes to autism. I can tell you now that is not the case at all even with routine he is very much in tune with the emotions of people. He may show it differently but it’s there.

                When I am out and about I can watch people go from customer service mode to complete shut down until the next person comes along. Just trying to be friendly to people in general seems to be forced in society. Even if you get a good reaction the person seems surprised to have been approached in a human way. When I say human I mean, with a smile or a kind word just in case that has been forgotten by the general public. People aren’t even aware of each other anymore and I consider myself a pretty antisocial person. I don’t like big crowds and extremely shy with people I don't know but I am still aware if people around me and the desire to relate to each other.

                Have we become so plugged in and in a hurry to keep up with social expectations we have actually forgotten what social means in the first place?

Social

Adjective

1. Pertaining to, devoted to, or characterized by friendly companionship or relations: a social club.

2. Seeking or enjoying the companionship of others; friendly; sociable; gregarious.

3. Of, pertaining to, connected with, or suited to polite or fashionable society: a social event.

4. Living or disposed to live in companionship with others or in a community, rather than in isolation: People are social beings.

5. Of or pertaining to human society, especially as a body divided into classes according to status: social rank

 

                Just a few definitions of social and now that I am actually off the mountain and mixed into society I am wondering if people really are social beings anymore. Yes with people we know well of course we are but what has happened to the way we approach each other as strangers in general? Do we still even know how or is it now considered odd or weird to be kind and polite to people we don’t know. Everywhere I go I run into robots unless I force them to into small talk and let me tell ya, I do. At first they seem to think I may have doubled up on a Prozac prescription and then they seem to relax and remember how to be a human being again. Discomfort and confusion turns into ease and a smile.

                Today I was driving in town with my daughter who is twelve. A man was on the side of the road with a sign that read, I need help. Not for drugs or alcohol just help. Call me a sucker if you will but I gave my daughter a dollar to hand him and she seemed to enjoy giving it to him. I don’t care what he spends that dollar on, what I care about is a man who has reached a point in this life he feels he needs to do this with 30,000$ cars driving by paying no mind to a clear social disability of everyone involved. From the man to the people who ignore him, we are all responsible for the way we choose to be aware of society.

                I have spent 5 years isolated from society for the most part on the side of a mountain with most of my communication being kids and now that I am back in the rat race I find it totally ironic autism is considered socially disabled. I did before the move but now I am even more at odds with the social pressure we are putting on autistics to fit in. When you really take a good hard look around as you go about your day the greater population has in fact become socially disabled. I can tell you this when it comes to autism things need to be logical and understood. How can autism ever keep up socially if logic and understanding is no longer a part of human nature in general? Why do we take a difference and put an expectation on it that we ourselves may not even be close to living up to in the big picture of life.

                Think about this as you are living day to day and try to adjust to each other even if it’s just a smile or friendly tone. If we are going to bombard an alarming rate of children being born autistic with a standard in society to meet,  we as society need to actually live up to that expectation. In the words of the artist Ice Cube way back in the day and not exactly but close to it…We need to check ourselves, before we wreck ourselves, or possibly an entire generation of kids who are fighting to live up to a social standard we can’t even seem to figure out for ourselves.