It happens almost daily. Someone asks, "Who is going?" And then someone answers, "Everyone." I hate hearing that answer. Everyone isn’t going. The world has over 6 billion people … and there are only 10 people going. For example, each week on Sunday nights after "church service" we might have 3 or 4 groups of people go eat at various places. Someone will describe their particular group, as "everyone" and I always have to refrain from slapping them. What about the people who ate somewhere else? What about the people that didn't go eat anywhere? Just because your 10 friends are all eating at one giant table, doesn't mean that everyone is there.
I am not really sure why I hate hearing this. I think the person who says “everyone” assumes that no one exists beyond his or her self and close friends. And this self-centered assumption irritates me.
Speaking of being self-centered, I just witnessed a hilarious interaction. I am in a local bookstore checking email and studying. An elderly man walked up to a store employee and asked, "Where are the plain old regular books?" The employee said, "I am not sure what you mean by 'regular books.' What type of book is it that you are looking for?" As the old grumpy man stood in the middle of a large bookstore, he gestured in the air as if he were impatiently swatting a fly three feet from his head, while he bemoaned, "Not all this other stuff, just plain regular books!" Those last three words were spoken slowly, as if each were its own sentence, and each was accentuated with one hand palm up, and the other hand karate chopping into it as if he were literally underscoring each spoken word.
With a straight face, the employee asked, "Do you mean general fiction?" [no response] "Current events?" [no response] A second employee chimed in, "Classics?" [still no response] I could see where all these genres could be seen as "plain old regular books," but none seemed to trigger a response from the frustrated man.
I can only conclude that he was referring to his favorite kind of book (whatever that is), and assumed that his personal choice was in the perfect middle of the book evaluation spectrum.
I am not sure why it bothers me for someone to assume that their particular favorite book style is the center of the genre classification universe, but it is the same reason I hate the use of the word "everyone" when in fact it is just a dozen of one's friends. Both fail to see beyond their nose in some way.
Psychologists say, the specific things you tend to hate about other people are often the things you actually hate about yourself, but are afraid to look at. Maybe I hate my own self-centeredness and if I would address my own self-centered assumptions, I'd stop hating them so much in others. Maybe I would stop being mad at people for eating out with "everyone," and maybe I’d go help this old grumpy man find a good old plain regular book.
Last I saw, he walked away from the employee and muttered something about "looking around." I can't see him anymore. I hope he found what he was looking for.
Last night, I took my family to eat supper at George Street Grocery. It is this great little pub that has a long history, including two brothers that had a gun duel in the doorway of the building in the 1920's ... resulting in the death of one of the brothers. It almost feels like the old west. It is a great place. Upstairs is kind of a younger "club" environment, not much fun. But downstairs is more diverse and feels a little like Fenian's Irish Pub. The kids ate all kinds of food and little Jackson (13 months old) ate a whole basket of sweet potato fries. It was funny to watch him. As much as a like it, I had never taken the kids ... they loved it. It is good to be home from Raleigh. I will post more about my Raleigh trip this week ... 
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