Friday, April 12, 2013

Stop Yelling


Last night I went to a good friend of mine's apartment to have a ladies night. When I arrived it was just the two of us and we talked about weight issues, embarrassing youth stories, and my smelly feet. I asked her if I could borrow some mayonaise for a BLT that I was planning on having later that evening and she was more than happy to let me have some.

After a while another one of our good friends came to join in on the fun. We turned on The Real Housewives of Orange County, one of the characters had just received a new chin, it looked horrible and I guess  a lot of drama that came with it. I don't actually know, I have never watched a Real Housewives of any variety and we weren't really watching this episode either.

I had control of the remote and so once the show was done I realized it was just about time for Parks and Recreation to start. I flipped to the channel and promptly began ignoring my two friends and their conversation. That was until their voices started raising. They both claimed they never "yelled", but let's just say neither of them were using inside voices.

They were arguing about gun violence and gun control. Two good friends were arguing. It was horrible. Mostly just extremely annoying to me, I couldn't hear what was going on with my show.

I know the issue of gun control is important, but I for the most part stayed out of the dispute. Every now and again I would raise my hand and wait for one of them to acknowledge me and I would mention that so and so raised a good point. I made sure I noticed and brought attention to both sides reasonable claims and arguments. After a few inserted comments, I even started feeling smug that I was easing the tension between them! Look at me being an amazing mediator! Finally my being the middle child is paying off, I could even start a career mediating conflicts.I could change the world! 

But my efforts weren't appreciated at all. There was never a, "gee whiz Emily, you bring up an excellent point, maybe I should lower my voice!" There were only hands jeered in my direction and more loud exclamations, "See! She gets my point!  Let me continue smearing my beliefs into your face!"

This went on for too long. I had missed Parks and Recreation. I wasn't having fun.

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I could have sat there all night enduring this mess of a discussion. Instead, I thought about how much I wanted to have a BLT and my homemade greek yogurt orange cream-sicles with my boyfriend. So I stood up, went to the kitchen and made myself a Ziploc baggy of mayonnaise for my BLT, and went to tell them I was going home.

They refused to let me leave and they ended the argument for my sake. We then turned the channel to Glee, which happened to be on the topic of gun violence and control.

I made them turn it off.



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