Why do we stand in line? Why do we wait patiently for our
turn to get into the football games, to buy a drink at the concession stand, or
wait in a turning lane at a red light? Is
it because it is the right thing to do? In
reality, there is no law stating that we must be patient and wait on everyone
else in front of us to get what they needed before we are allowed to get what
we want. We do it because that is just
the way it is supposed to be. It is the
way that we were raised and brought up. We
were taught to wait our turn because eventually it will be our turn. You will not get arrested for skipping in
line, although you might get roughed up a bit by the people you did skip or
pulled out of line and sent to the back by an officer, but ultimately it is not
a so called crime. We are okay with
waiting in line because we know that it would be very rare for the people
running the show to run out of what we want.
What if that was not the case? What if it was first come first serve and
once they ran out, they were out? People
would be a lot less willing to sit and wait, especially if the product was
something perishable such as food or water. Things would get hectic if that
were the case. So in order to portray
that there is some type of control in our lives, we sit in live patiently
waiting to get what we ultimately want.
I actually never even thought of this before. Like you said, it's just something that we all do and when we don't we, or at least I, feel bad for cutting in front of people; and people get mad.
ReplyDeleteI completely get what you are saying that it is not required of us or anything but I think that things would get pretty insane if we didnt do things like wait our turn and form lines, etc. I cant remember what show it was but when i was little i saw a cartoon episode where the little kid wished for no parents, rules, etc. and when he got it the world pretty much turned to shit. it was chaotic and crazy and yes it was just a cartoon but i think these are things, standing line, etc that keep us in order. I agree with you that there may be some hegemony at work here but I think that in this case it is definitly a good thing.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think it is definitely a good thing in this case. Things would be very chaotic, like you said, if we didn't do simple things like standing in line.
DeleteI agree i never thought of that before, like you said its something we all have to do because its the rules, we have to wait patiently if theres a long line. Patience is a good virtue to have. I agree that wer have things like standing in lines etc because they keep us from getting too chaotic. we just have to be patient and wait our turn
ReplyDeleteLike everyone else has said, I have never thought of this before. Standing in line just seems to be like second nature; something we we're raised and taught in school to do. Even as children we knew it was unacceptable to just "cut" in line. Everyone would give you a glare or tell on you if you did. It's funny to remember how our solution to "cutting" was "back cutting." Instead of skipping someone in line you would just ask them if you could stand behind them. This didn't take into consideration the person behind them, but for some reason it seemed slightly more acceptable.
ReplyDeleteHere's a devil's advocate question: can you think of a situation (historical or hypothetical) in which it would be bad or harmful to just go along with the "stay in line/wait your turn" ideology? Is it sometimes necessary or vital to cut in line?
ReplyDeleteFood for thought,
JF