The Most Complained About Item is.....

Other than the weather, the thing that I hear most people complain about is:

• their computer and/or internet access
• annoying telephone salespeople;
• work; and
• mobile phones. 

These five items are the things I hear people complain the most about.

Now the reason I called this blog entry "The Most Complained About Item" is because the most complained about thing would have to be other people!

While those initial five items are likely limited to more advanced countries, I'm sure the one universal thing that is most complained about across the entire world, including third world countries, would have to be other people.

I think the majority of people are pretty decent, but there is a certain percentage of people in the world who are not so nice, and no matter how nicely we try to talk to them or try to get along with them, they are always going to be annoying and nasty.

Some years ago I remember having a chat with someone who has a tendency to put other people down and make fun of them. I've never been one to hang around people like that because I don't like it and I've been on the receiving end of nasty talk and I know how it feels. But I found myself strangely compelled to join in the put-downs and realised that even deep down inside myself, there was a small part of me that really wasn't all that nice. Mustering some internal strength, I squashed the desire to join in the belittling and I turned the conversation to something else.

It was a disturbing revelation, that I could possess a flaw like that in my personality and not be aware of it. I guess though it was a good thing, because it made me aware that I am not perfect and still have flaws that need to be improved. It also showed me that other people have flaws that need correcting as well. 

For some of us, the journey of life is about becoming better people.  But for nasty people, I guess the journey of life is not about making themselves better people, but more about making themselves feel better, and doing whatever it takes to achieve that.

I don't know that this is any great revelation or helps me to accept mean people any more than it did before, but just understanding that people approach life with completely opposite aims to my own, helps me to understand that I don't have to like everyone, and there are people who are never going to like me...

and that's ok.