I don’t know about you but every time a driver honks near me it’s painful, explodes right into me. When I look to see what’s going on, it’s that the car in front didn’t move when the light changed a second ago or that there’s a long line of cars going nowhere—and honking has no point.
“Thanks a lot for shooting my ears off!” I yell to no avail.
Yes, I’ve got extra sensitive hearing but I’ve also got an extra sensitive brain. What’s wrong with people that they’ve got to honk so often, blasting away hostilely just because someone in front of them doesn’t leap forward in time. Sirens also get me, police, fire and ambulance. Am I the emergency?
The anti-social nature of life these days is getting extreme. People walking right in front me not saying excuse me or sorry. People on cell phones in front of their faces not paying attention to where they’re walking. People who don’t know they should walk to the right. People who look at me like I’m crazy if I speak to them. Boy!, it’s great to hear what my friend Bette experienced on the Silver Line the other day—a homeless guy gave her a pair of earrings because she looked so friendly. You know what? Homeless people are often a lot friendlier than anyone else.
I blame it all on cell phones, the addictiveness that makes people look at and answer their phones all the time, people an afterthought. The addictiveness that makes them think it’s okay to talk and yell—like car honking—next to other people on buses, in stores, everywhere.
Half the time honking drivers are on a cell phone too.
Alison Barnet is a longtime South End resident and author of five books, including four volumes on the history of her neighborhood.