Recently there have been TV adverts encouraging us to be more accepting of mental ill health. Now, I totally understand that one should not be unkind to people suffering with this type of problem, but there comes a point where such altruism is a hard pill to swallow. I feel it's instinctive to shy away from extremes in social behavior - perhaps even a defensive mechanism over which we have little control.
The other day, while traveling on a train, a fairly well dressed woman came into the compartment talking in a loud voice. There was no one with her and I assumed that she must be having a conversation with her secret and invisible friend. In other words a wacko. I naturally tried to ignore the behavior, although the volume of her conversation made it quite hard. This invisible and secret friend seemed to be a man with whom she was very annoyed. Well, you know how difficult men can be, even the invisible ones!
As she turned around to take her seat I noticed some sort of device screwed into her ear - Ah, she was on the phone. Now is it just me or does this sort of thing drive you crazy? Instead of trying to make us more tolerant of wacko behavior, can't we devote our energies to inventing a flashing light to let people know that the wearer is on the phone and not a sufferer of Tourette's syndrome. I think we'd all feel so much better.
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