Anecdotal Evidence

 

 There are common phrases we banter about such as Murphy’s Law –‘if something can go wrong it will’- which of course is no more valid than ‘if something can go right it will’- although sometimes it seems as though one or the other is true because it feels that way at that moment. Years ago my mother and I used to joke that ‘every time you approach an intersection the light is always red’, regardless of the direction. When I tested the truth by counting how many times it really was red or green, it turned out that the light was green 52 times and red 48 after 100 intersections- exactly as statistical evidence would predict. Sometimes red was ahead and sometimes green.     

   When walking along a deserted road where it can be miles before seeing another vehicle, if a vehicle does eventually come along, it seems as though there is always one coming from the other direction so that all three people converge at the same place at the same time. Beth and I call this the vortex effect-as though the energy is somehow being drawn together to that one point.

    Lately I have been noticing how slowly people seem to move, so that at age 65 I walk across a parking lot or through a store faster than the average person, not because I am rushing, rather because I naturally walk and move more efficiently.  At the register in a store some people seem to place their items on the counter slowly and let the cashier check them out before reaching for their money or a credit card-rather than being prepared to pay ahead of time. When at an ATM, some people seem to be incapable of pushing the buttons efficiently. They buckle up and adjust the mirror and do all the other things they could do after leaving the bay. When driving, Beth and I sometimes judge how long it takes people to turn after they have put on their signals. A 10 is fast, safe and efficient, and a 1 is turtle slow, and 3’s and 4’s seem to be the average; Very few people seem to be able to slow down and turn as smoothly as their vehicle would allow.

    These are all anecdotal observations which I have not put to an empirical test like I did with the red lights, and the truth probably is that I become impatient with peoples slowness or lack of consideration and thus I  remember those instances more often. Science would be my clearest measure of  whether   people actually are slower or if I am being influenced by my own bullshit-as is so prevalent in the world these days.