351 words
As the shoulder seasons inevitably approach, having to revisit the same dealership to get the tires swapped on multiple vehicles provided an illuminating experience this year.
We, humans, are horrible at waiting. We have no grace when confronted with boredom and will do anything to avoid delving too deep into our mind palace. Over the seventy-two-hour span, I viewed dozens of arched spines enveloping their mobile phone like a starving serpent on its prey. There were a few kind-hearted adult children who had taken their aging parents in to have their vehicles serviced, all of them sitting in silence as their ungrateful parents berated them with a decades-old laundry list of grievances. Three people who attempted to play YouTube videos aloud through their speakers immediately stopped when told to. Then there were the middle managers and salespeople frantically leaving voicemails for their latest pitches as no one in their right mind would take their calls. And lastly, having a foot recently vanquished from its open-toe heels swing wildly in front of me, failing to grab my attention after first clocking in the giant engagement ring, all led to a bad taste in my mouth. She desperately escalated her attempts to get my attention by speaking on her phone about how flexible she was and how she wanted to live a full life before having children.
All the while, I either sat quietly and enjoyed the moment in complete stillness, read my book while taking notes or worked happily on my computer.
One of the biggest consequences of our species losing its attention span is our capacity to sit in silence. In doing so, we pollute our surroundings, naturally disrupting our environments while neglecting to nurture them. Perhaps the biggest consequence of this cognitive decline that our entire species is suffering from is the loss of a particular type of person. The type of person who vowed at some point in their lives to leave every room they entered better than they found it. Now, it seems that everyone views every room and experience as something to endure rather than to nurture.
Time of writing: April 6th, 2026