Show The People With Whom We Live By Dorothy Dix I I I t I i I J r j I I I I I TIe The curiosity of no some me families In La ex cx exceedingly exceedingly burrowing I HERE are times I suppose when THERE T all of us are filled ruled with envy of ot Adam before Eve was created create II because he had the world l to himself There Thera was nobody to interfere with him Nobody to contradict him balm No one with whose ways he had to put up and life with him must have been one glad sweet song of ot untrammeled freedom such as we may never know Of Ot course coune this mood last Weare Weare We Weare are bound to have companions It if for tor nothing eee Ole but to have some one to com corn complain complain plain to but there is no denying that moat of the burdens of existence are laid bald upon us unnecessarily unwillingly dud unconsciously by b the people with whom I I we live I It Is la true that we get good and even with them by b the discomforts that we I make them suffer by b our peculiarities but thero there are few more path things in I Ithe the Lb world than t an to tb that t lt most of us 1 I I I I I exist as kind of social mustard plasters whose chief mission In life seems to be ba bato beto beto to Irritate and raise a 0 blister on our fellow creatures Thle Thie being the case It does look as asif asIt asIt It if we might enter into some sort of a mutual protective organization In which we would agree to keep off ort of or other peoples grass If iC they would keep off oft of ours We Dont Know Any Better Not many man of us are consciously human hogs we are simply swine without know knowing knowing ing lug it bent on getting the best of everything every everything every everything thing for fm ourselves and doing as we weI please without reference to anybody Y pleasure or comfort The Tho man at the theater for tor instance who makes a 0 whole lin line of women get getup getup getup up twice between every act to lot let him get out and get a drink who musses up their pretty frocks by b crowding by them and tramples over their feet consider himself a brute Neither does the musical gentleman who hums burns the score of the opera obera o era in your our ear so that you cant hear the singers on the stage No more does the Intelligent lady l d who opines nobody but herself has sense enough to understand the plot of ot the play and who explains the situations in ina Ina Ina a loud and audible voice to everyone within a radius of six seats think of herself as an educated pig Neither does the woman who meets a in inthe Inthe inthe the aisle utter the play is over ocr and nd the audience rushing for cars and amI who blocks bloc s the procession while she explains why her cook left and gives a clr ur tan flat Ual account of the babs In reality alt all allot of these people are areco co od 3 kind conscientious Individuals who desire to do right by their neighbors and they would be shocked to know how un uncomfortable uncomfortable uncomfortable comfortable they make life lite for the bal balance balance balance ance of ts iLg S and how gladly we would poison polson them like any an Other pests of ot the household If we only dared For my part a 1 man never climbs over me at th the theater when I have on my m best be t frock that I dont hope that the bartender will put a cute little pinch of prussic acid In his hl cocktail by mistake But honestly honest and seriously do any of ofus us ta s ever sit down dispassionately and think how disagreeable we make mak things for tor forthe forthe the people with whom wo we live and who have no way of escaping lg us For example thero there is family curiosity or Of course we excuse this to ourselves by saying that It is because be ouse we love John or Mary that we want tp to know everything they do dD and anal we never neer take Into consideration the suggestion that John or Mary may take an opposite view of the situation There are plenty of or families In which one cannot turn around without a per perfect perfect feet fusillade of questions Where did you go Why did you go Who did didou you ou seer See aee What did they say Why diu din you think What do you think you think In endless Iteration The third degree of the police system a marker to the thc sweating process that the tho family inquisitor tor ton puts the victim through and all aH dear deer soul without the slightest thought that most moat people would Just about as soon have the thumbscrews thun screws applied as the corkscrew Offense of Interference Then them thero Is the th interference If 1 I were making the laws I would head the list of criminal offenses punishable with solitary confinement for life with inter IDler interference ference terence and I should like JIle an ex CX example ample of t the individual who urn can rover never I see anybody doing anything without put putting putting ting Ung in with a few row suggestions bugg and a et bunch of advice Not runny many man of us U would escape on this titis count but it would leave Heave eava things mighty calm cairn and pleasant for tho few survivors In rn alt all good truth it strange that t at we w dont realize how obnoxious we make nako ourselves by not letting lettin people attend to their wn and raise their own children and an run their own hUIes in their own way Occasionally Occasional WI we e grant great at and Ind precious privilege t to tt strangers but nt the he people with whom we haV t hat ltv s 40 to IV J I fathers tad and mothers moth an tl fv iw I II II I I sisters and brothers tho people who cant escape us wo WG harry with our suggestions There are households In which U It t is Impossible for tor a n member to even een so much muchas as brush her teeth without all till the he bal balance balance balance ance of the family asking Why dont you do It the other way Why dont vou you use a hard brush or a soft brush or a It rubber brush or a prophylactic brush or ora ora a It paste wash or a powder r or dental soap or whatever It Is ill you dont do doAll doAll doAll All of us know khOw how irritating it Is Isto Isto isto to have people stand oar over us wita their Why dont you do it this way But we all do It to others and the real ra rea reason rason son con that families break brenk up and scatter from Maine to Mexico Is IB because we w wall all want to gilt gt among people who dont know us well enough to mt Int re In oar affairs affaire As for conversation would 1 some power the gift to give us to hear ourselves as through a It phonograph a It reform would be there my m countrymen Surely those who begin beron every sen sentence sen sentence tence tenee with I 1 say or You say or Says I and Says he Ito or You know or Dont you know would lop catch words If It they knew how they the made the listener squirm Perhaps too If IL I he could realize how very very tired he mace us 11 the theman theman man who reads the funny funn papers I feel It necessary to repeat over ovel all the theold theold theold old jokes that all the tire balance of ot the th world read the same ame time he did dill It might also dawn on the fathers and ml mothers or orl orlI I intent infant prodigies that nothing on OJ earth I but bu t Christian n fortitude sustains a person pentOn x I who has line to listen to a baton batch of oC tt rU j milk baby bub stories JT Au An Irritating rest reat In Is the one cue who vrho is III always giving advice As a matter of fact we are absolutely merciless about boring people yet et being belm talked to death Is 19 one of the most ex ox exQuisite forms of ot torture In the world That concern us UJ or raise mise one throb of pity In our breasts If we wai waito wait waitto to talk about ourselves we con eon converse conVerse verse about ourselves and It is up u to the other party to defend If It Vc lw can These are re merely merel elemental suggestion for eBbing easing the th situation for those with whom we live Nobody N adopt them but the people with whom we have to I o live deserve our heartfelt sympathy Just as we ne have a right to theirs It is hard nad on us both and yet as a multitude of ot people may pass freely to and fro no In a narrow street If every evey one o e would only anI keep to the right so might we live our lives with freedom and safety fet and comfort if It every everyone everyone one PM would only respect the right and privilege of the people with whom they live |