Why Can't They Do it Another Way?

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This Research Report #3 is concerned mainly with the self dialogue one imposes upon oneself when confronted with something which you perceive to be inadequate or insufficient as seen through your perspective. the data included is composed of that which has not been previously recorded or in any way presented in an official format. This information, being derived mistakenly through our interaction within our environment, may in many ways prove to be quite handy and useful to know. Usually, we often see something done in a particular fashion and we frequently are quick to criticize; however, much of this criticism is often never of the constructive sort, instead we use a more negatively based type of criticism. We frequently have much to say in the way of degrading or commenting about things done by others. So, I would venture to say that you could infer that this paper is attempting to differentiate our systematic routine of thinking and direct our attention toward a better and more efficient way of approaching what we may perceive as the problem. In some cases, we might discover that with our limited information, resources, or whatever else there is, that ,indeed, the best possible alternative was originally undertaken and we can not find a better solution. This train of thought forces us to view the problem from more than one point of view and may ultimately prove to truly provide enlightening solutions to our problems.

The first episode which I encountered happened last week on a weekday in the early morning hours around 9:20 on the H-1 free way on-ramp, Diamond Head bound. I'm sure that just about everyone at one time or another has come upon a situation where as you approached an on ramp to get onto either a freeway or highway, some bird brain in front of you suddenly brakes instead of accelerating. After all, on ramps serve a purpose to give people a running start so that merging into the flow of traffic will be easier. But as I've previously stated, this idiot decides that he wants to stop completely at the beginning of the ramp and merge from a complete stop which I think is utterly insane as well as unsafe. In fact, to be on the guard against these type of drivers, I find that I have to really be more of a defensive driver.

In order to get another persons view of the situation I described above, I asked a friend and fellow student who uses the same route as I do. Consequently, we agreed wholeheartedly with my conclusions of the affair. He had come into contact with other drivers of the same driving abilities I have mentioned.

I think it would prove to really beneficial to talk to someone who drives in the manner aforementioned. I would like to point out the dangerousness of his or her actions and possibly find some reason for their behavior. Regrettably, I don't really know any one who drives as such. Therefore, I can only speculate from past experiences with such people. My first educated guess would be that these people are of the nervous sort or are risk averse to the extent where their defensiveness creates more danger than is intended. Ultimately, I don't think that there is a cut and dried solution to this particular problem, in reality, we should try to distinguish these drivers and try to relate to them the inherent dangers and discomforts they have induced upon others. Also, there are uncontrollable factors such as freeway construction and the shortness of the runway itself which influence the behavior of drivers to the extent where they endanger themselves and others.

Another problem which I have encountered occurred the past two Saturday nights around 7:30. P.M. Friends and I had decided to play football at Kapaolono Park in Kaimuki. Upon arriving the first Saturday, we found that the lights were out. Being greatly distressed, we tried vainly to try and turn the ball field lights on using the manual control. After our futile attempt to open the lights, we decided that either they were broken or just wasn't turned on Saturday nights. Thinking the later solution to be more improbable, we concluded the previous situation.

Our past experience of playing on Saturday nights last year reinforced our beliefs. Some kids who always hung around the park strengthened our convictions because they said that this was the first time the lights were off. With these confirmations as well as witnessing the lights being on Friday night, I figured the lights had been fixed since last Saturday. So again we gathered at the park to be once more disappointed. Both times we ended up playing on a field of lesser quality. Now I focused my animosities toward the Parks and Recreation Dept. since they seemed I to leave the lights on during the week and off on weekends. I feel that of all days, Friday and Saturday nights, the lights should be kept on to cater to all who wish to use the facilities. So I finally called Kapaolono Park's office and inquired as to the availability of the field as well as to when the lights would be on. It appears that the lights were used in a much more definite manner in the form of softball or soccer leagues during week nights and week ends were more unpredictable as to prospective users. So in order to help conserve energy, the lights were not put on every weekend. I also found that we had to reserve the field and give prior notice beforehand of our intentions so that the lights would be put on for us. Therefore, it appears to me that I could've resolved this situation much faster if I had inquired earlier about the status of the ball field lights and inevitably spared myself and my friends from a lot of discomfort and displeasure.

The last situation which I have come across recently concerns the tests we take for our courses in school. A couple of weeks ago I had the terrible misfortune of having three tests, one paper, and one quiz in the space of three days. I always wondered how teachers possessed the uncanny ability to be able to schedule my tests on the same days or quite uncomfortably close together. I feel that this really to be detrimental to my performance in these classes. However, when I looked at my future test dates I found that the overload I previously mentioned was more of an exception rather than the rule. It just happened by coincidence that all my classes seemed to fall within the same period. Furthermore, I now feel that there was no collusion on the part of teacher and that the similarity of test dates was totally a coincidence more than anything else.

I came to this former conclusion, after inquiring with other student friends as to the means of their bummer test schedules. By a unanimous consensus, we determined the nature of our predicaments to be unpremeditated and totally unrelated to one another. I guess the test dates depended more upon the number of midterms or papers assigned by each particular class.

In conclusion, I think that by dealing with specific problems of doing things in manners which we deem unsuitable as they occur, we would stand a much better chance of resolving to some measure of satisfaction the incongruent tendencies which initially elicited our responses. By this, I mean that the sooner we face up and try to resolve differences we perceive as real, the better chance we have of resolving these differences. Looking back at the data which I generated from my past experiences, I found that I used three methods quite substantially. these routines consisted of:

1) a conversation with another who encountered the same situation
2) self-dialogue with myself where I tried to take in another point of view
3) official sources; to gain previously unknown information which I could only speculate and formulate my own ideas.

In the first situation I found that my co-conversationalist more or less reinforced my previous beliefs and at times only further distorted my total outlook. The second method usually forced me to try to see through another perspective and eventually develop a more consistent solution. The last alternative, generally provided me with official knowledge which at the time was unknown to me personally. Consequently, it seems to me that the method which we ultimately tend to use to rationalize our actions may decide the type of solution we will secure. In truth, the means will decide the end product.