This morning when I pulled into the parking garage there was a small red car just sitting there in my spot. When I say my spot, I mean exactly that, it’s MY spot. Every time I find a car misplaced there I feel a small burst of anger flood through my body and I make a little growl noise to myself. Grrr! Now, we do not actually have reserved parking spots in this garage but still I feel some sense of ownership over this spot. I mean, I’ve been parking there for over 4 years so I figure it must be some kind of common law privilege. But every month or so I go through the same thing – new people that don’t know they've parked in my spot and I have to inform them…in the nicest way possible. I’ve been saying forever that I want to put up a sign to announce to the noobs this location has already been claimed, please park elsewhere, but clearly my laziness outweighs the temporary flash of bitterness towards the spot stealer.
Last night I was watching Project Runway and there was a hilariously over-dramatic blow-up between two designers about a sewing machine. Apparently one of the designers had claimed a certain sewing station and found another designer had changed the thread and was using it! Gasp! I mocked them through the screen, of course, but found myself thinking I’d probably feel much the same way had it happened to me. After all, I was irritated with little red car this morning and I can remember being irritated when those annoying kids tried to sit at our lunch table in elementary school. I can also remember shaking my fist and mumbling under my breath back in college when I would walk all the way up to the top floor of the library only to find my favorite study/sleeping cube filled to capacity with a fellow student I would now despise forever. And…I find myself actually getting slightly flushed and disoriented when I walk into church and somebody is sitting in my row. What is happening here?!?!
Honestly, I don’t think my reaction is entirely unfounded and irrational; although it is probably way more intense than it should be, but that’s not really anything new for me. Since the beginning of time we have been sectioning off territory for specific groups of people or individuals and we fight over it…still…today. We want our own space and probably for some deeply ingrained reason – we need something to call our own. Currently, I have my cubical at work and my bedroom – this is MY personal area so don’t touch my stuff! As a human race or maybe just an American race we all want a bit of space dedicated just for us. It makes us feel secure, comfortable, perhaps even gives us a sense of control or power. I like and want all of those things and so I guess that explains the desire for retaliation when someone tries to take it all away from me by parking in my spot.
Well, that’s just a little introspection for the day. Turns out, I’m possessive. I said it. There you have it. So, please, don’t take my spot!
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2 comments:
I think, while it's not specifically an American thing, it's definitely well ingrained into the American psyche. Even though the Declaration of Independence says we should be guaranteed, "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," I think we all feel that Locke's original phrasing of "life, liberty, and property" better suits the American Dream.
We, as Americans, truly believe, I think, that it's our God-given right, if we work hard, to possess certain things: a house, some land, a car, etc. Sometimes we extend this to things that are typically more common property, like parking spaces, because the concept of ownership is so much a part of who we are.
The country was settled by people who just wanted a plot of land to call their own. I don't think it's a bad thing, necessarily. This earth was created for our use. If we can't call certain parts of it ours, how can we be good stewards over it?
Ha -- Don't touch my stuff!
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