Like all teenagers, he does sometimes does things that annoy and sadden me. His latest thing is Supergluing a quarter to the sidewalk outside the house: he likes to watch from an upstairs window and see people bend over (hoping) to pick it up and looking perplexed and/or annoyed when they can't. He finds this amusing and is somewhat dismayed that I do not. When he has asked why, I say that I already know that most (or all) people engage in stupid and/or irrational thoughts and/or behaviors and that the cumulative, ambient amount of cynicism and ill feeling most people are carrying around on a quotidian basis is already sky-high, why do things gratuitously to increase it? The other thing, of course, is that I walk out the door and exit the house (frequently to walk Sir Barks-a-Lot, my son's dog) directly next to where that damn quarter is currently affixed and I'm annoyed every time when I realize I can't pick it up. So I know part of my annoyance and sadness is really anger at myself for my own petty greed and inability to let insignificant things go.
I know teenagers engage in behaviors that provoke reactions in their parents that often have more to do with their parents' michegas and unresolved conflicts, and, as pranks go, the glued-to-the-sidewalk quarter is pretty innocuous. Still, must my teenager point up my foibles in such irritating ways?
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