IT GETS AROUND
Got any gossip? Tip off the Taxiwallah: Tolerance
Excuse the lack of blogging recently, it's been a tough couple of weeks since my return to Al Ain. When things are bad I blog about soya protein..
Everyone seems damn miserable here in AA at the moment. Call it the post festive blues, call it what you want but I don't know a single happy soul in this city right now. Maybe I mixing with the wrong crowd or maybe everyone has a good reason to be so glum.
I have come to the conclusion that happiness here is directly connected with tolerance. Tolerance is usually seen as a positive thing but taken too far, it can lead to masochism. People are usually so proud of how much they can tolerate that they stop being able to see when people are taking the p***. My happiness began to decrease with my tolerance. For example: when seeing the condition of the labourers here, when a colleague and friend was sacked for no reason without appeal, when people die in car accidents yet THOSE WHO SURVIVE* continue to drive recklessly/wrecklessly and without seatbelts, when animals are abused for fun; just a few examples. When I could no longer turn a blind eye to these things, no longer be tolerant, I became unhappy.
Is it good to turn a blind eye for the sake of personal happiness?
* for the benefit of Anonymous at 9.22 pm so there is no misunderstanding.
Everyone seems damn miserable here in AA at the moment. Call it the post festive blues, call it what you want but I don't know a single happy soul in this city right now. Maybe I mixing with the wrong crowd or maybe everyone has a good reason to be so glum.
I have come to the conclusion that happiness here is directly connected with tolerance. Tolerance is usually seen as a positive thing but taken too far, it can lead to masochism. People are usually so proud of how much they can tolerate that they stop being able to see when people are taking the p***. My happiness began to decrease with my tolerance. For example: when seeing the condition of the labourers here, when a colleague and friend was sacked for no reason without appeal, when people die in car accidents yet THOSE WHO SURVIVE* continue to drive recklessly/wrecklessly and without seatbelts, when animals are abused for fun; just a few examples. When I could no longer turn a blind eye to these things, no longer be tolerant, I became unhappy.
Is it good to turn a blind eye for the sake of personal happiness?
* for the benefit of Anonymous at 9.22 pm so there is no misunderstanding.
Labels: animal cruelty, bad spelling, car accidents, expat gripes, labourers, tolerance
posted by Al Ain Taxi at 1/23/2007 04:14:00 pm
12 Comments:
I know the feeling, I really do. And ones tolerance does not grow, it diminishes over time here.
Shame about the January blues mate! I know there's loads of crappy things happening here and all over but getting down about it doesn't help - that's not to say that we're not aware of them. However, I'm someone living in AA feeling quite happy and just wanted to congratulate you on your site - it looks great.
If they die in an accident, they did NOT drive wrecklessly!!
I really don't want to switch off anonymous posting but if I continue to get brainless comments like the one above, I will.
Yes, wreckless drivers do die in accidents. Sounds like you're making excuses for your own driving, Anonymous at 9.22 pm.
And the ones that continue to drive are the ones that survived to drive another day.
No, you are not getting it ....
Your sentence should read "recklessly" not WRECK less ly ... if you get in a wreck you are not driving WRECK LESS ly!!
O - M - G !!!!!
Don't disable anon - just put comment moderation on and don't give them the light of day ;)
Oh Anonymous, you have no sense of humour or irony. Wrecklessly is spelt this way intentionally, to emphasise the word 'wreck'. They drive 'wrecklessly' because they are NOT thinking about the wreck they could cause, therefore they are 'wreck-less'.
OR maybe I'm dyslexic but that doesn't mean I can't state my opinions without some spineless anonymous spelling policeman coming on here and being a smart arse..
And if you're going to give me a lesson in spelling then I can give you a lesson in netiquette:
The Spelling Flame
It happens every day. Someone misspells a word in a public message. One or more people absolutely must publicly correct the error. Judging from the number of times this happens, there seem to be millions of high school English teacher wannabes in cyberspace. Ironically, spelling flames nearly always contain spelling errors.
Spelling flames are bad Netiquette. If you feel absolutely compelled to correct someone's spelling or grammar, do so via private email. Keep in mind that English is not the first language of many people on the Internet.
From 'Netiquette', by Virginia Shea, online here: http://www.albion.com/bookNetiquette
If you would like to work as my unpaid human spell checker then please e mail me with a list of errors everyday. Otherwise keep the comments focussed on the content of my posts rather than the spelling and grammar which may make you feel smug and clever but is boring to the rest of us.
dude,, for real man,, stop hating...
if your not happy then go back to England, or wherever the hell you came from, i bet yod like to see people drunk 24/7 huh?,, or raped ppl bleeding on the streets of London?, or maybe public sex in the central park, or you might enjoy walking scared from being robbed in the streets after 7 PM
the bottom line is, no matter how bad it is here in the UAE, its better than a million other places, in fact its one of the safest countries on earth, and about what you said u have a point,, but remember everywhere has its goods and bads,, and i know since your staying here,, you see that theres more good...so stop bitchin ;)
Dear Mr Macho,
Oh it was so tempting not to publish your comment but I hate censorship so here it is.
You're really coming out with all the anti-expat cliches, aren't you. Why don't I go home, blah blah. Well wake up and smell the shisha, 'dude', this place is far from perfect and if I feel compelled to write about what isn't perfect then I will. You call it 'bitchin', I call it 'exposin'.
Besides, now is not a good time to come on and tell us everything in the garden (city) is lovely when there's some very nasty stuff coming to the forefront which effects those who are dearest to us.
Re so-called "Macho Man", we certainly have our social problems in the West, but one of the reasons you hear so much about them is that we have free and independent media where such problems can be discussed openly. This is not the case in the UAE, where domestic abuse, sexual violence, rampant prostitution, AIDS, and migrant worker exploitation are brushed under the "wasTa" carpet. "Macho Man" says that the UAE is "one of the safest places on earth", presumably he's not talking about road saftey, of women being able to walk about freely without molestation. BTW, I've been here five years and are counting the days until I can get out of here; most long-term expats I know feel the same way. This ain't the place it used to be.
Post a Comment
<< Home