It's been said that the only constant in life is change. In today's techno-modern world, change seems to come at every turn. For example, it seems like only a generation or so ago, people ascertained the current month, date and day by looking at a calendar. Before we knew it, calendars were thrown on the dust heap and were replaced by watches. Now, even watches, are passe -- People look at their cell phones!
While all these silly nilly changes may be fine and dandy for the majority of the population, I gotta tell you it's wreaking havoc on those of us with AS. Each slight modification in our general routines tends to discombobulate us and causes unknown amounts of anxiety and stress. Though I haven't checked with my fellow aspies -- because I don't do well in social situations -- I think we'd all appreciate it if you neurotypicals would get together to decide to limit change in certain areas. While this wouldn't solve our entire dilemma, a little bit of constancy would go a long way to help brighten our overall mental health!
For example, would it be too much trouble for you folks to figure out how to produce food that's not infected with Salmonella Typhimurium? The FDA used to issues warnings and recalls every now and then. Over the last generation or so, these warnings seem to come in rapid fire: hamburgers, spinach, and now, the most American of foods, peanut butter!!
It's getting to the point in which we don't know what to eat anymore. Everytime we latch on to a favorite food, it becomes infected with some vile organism and we're told not to eat it.
Another area in which a state of constancy would be most helpful is national politics. Wouldn't it be far easier simply to select one president and one vice president to serve for life?
We used to think that these various candidates and office holders supported different policies, but, if you look at the recent record, we get the same crap albeit with different faces.
Over the last generation or so, every American administration has supported war. If it wasn't George Sr., it was Bill Clinton followed by Dubya and even the new guy sounds like he likes to rattle sabers too. Ya see, same basic policy, only a different set of lips telling Americans why this is good for us.
Look at the disparity between rich and poor. It keeps growing, regardless of who sits their keester in the Oval Office. So, why keep playing musical chairs? Just decide on two people and let him stay there until they die.
Here's another suggestion. Could you all decide on one color for use at traffic lights? Everytime I stop at one, I'm met by this maddening array of color: red, green and yellow with a wide assortment of arrows and flashing words. Since most drivers seem to ignore this rainbow anyway, couldn't we just have one light in, say, the color of beige or charcoal?
Even in the safe confines of my own abode, I'm constantly besieged by change. Each time I turn on my television, there are more channels than I can shake a stick out. Since most of the programming on the networks is junk, why don't they all conglomerate into one? It would make it so much easier and less stressful to skip by one channel rather than three!
For that matter, a lot of the programming on the cable channels isn't much better. So, could we combine all the "movie" channels, sports channels, news channels and get rid of all those silly one topic channels?
I could go on and on, but I think this small list is enough to get you going. If you can get these solved post haste, let me know. I'm sure I and other aspies can supply more detailed lists in the future.
While all these silly nilly changes may be fine and dandy for the majority of the population, I gotta tell you it's wreaking havoc on those of us with AS. Each slight modification in our general routines tends to discombobulate us and causes unknown amounts of anxiety and stress. Though I haven't checked with my fellow aspies -- because I don't do well in social situations -- I think we'd all appreciate it if you neurotypicals would get together to decide to limit change in certain areas. While this wouldn't solve our entire dilemma, a little bit of constancy would go a long way to help brighten our overall mental health!
For example, would it be too much trouble for you folks to figure out how to produce food that's not infected with Salmonella Typhimurium? The FDA used to issues warnings and recalls every now and then. Over the last generation or so, these warnings seem to come in rapid fire: hamburgers, spinach, and now, the most American of foods, peanut butter!!
It's getting to the point in which we don't know what to eat anymore. Everytime we latch on to a favorite food, it becomes infected with some vile organism and we're told not to eat it.
Another area in which a state of constancy would be most helpful is national politics. Wouldn't it be far easier simply to select one president and one vice president to serve for life?
We used to think that these various candidates and office holders supported different policies, but, if you look at the recent record, we get the same crap albeit with different faces.
Over the last generation or so, every American administration has supported war. If it wasn't George Sr., it was Bill Clinton followed by Dubya and even the new guy sounds like he likes to rattle sabers too. Ya see, same basic policy, only a different set of lips telling Americans why this is good for us.
Look at the disparity between rich and poor. It keeps growing, regardless of who sits their keester in the Oval Office. So, why keep playing musical chairs? Just decide on two people and let him stay there until they die.
Here's another suggestion. Could you all decide on one color for use at traffic lights? Everytime I stop at one, I'm met by this maddening array of color: red, green and yellow with a wide assortment of arrows and flashing words. Since most drivers seem to ignore this rainbow anyway, couldn't we just have one light in, say, the color of beige or charcoal?
Even in the safe confines of my own abode, I'm constantly besieged by change. Each time I turn on my television, there are more channels than I can shake a stick out. Since most of the programming on the networks is junk, why don't they all conglomerate into one? It would make it so much easier and less stressful to skip by one channel rather than three!
For that matter, a lot of the programming on the cable channels isn't much better. So, could we combine all the "movie" channels, sports channels, news channels and get rid of all those silly one topic channels?
I could go on and on, but I think this small list is enough to get you going. If you can get these solved post haste, let me know. I'm sure I and other aspies can supply more detailed lists in the future.
LOL, this part of your personality reminds me of my father. He doesn't like change either. He has a compture program he's used since the person created it. Every 2 years they come out with a new version, with all new bells and whistles and it drives him nuts. Come to think of it, maybe he has AS too ;) he wears the same boxers, same socks, same boots, same shirts, same hats, same razor, same pads of paper, same wife (which is probably the reason they are still married), same job, same car for as long as possible.
ReplyDeleteI think you and him would probably get along. He expalins it as K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid) :D
For me, it's not simplicity I crave because there are several patterns that I follow that are quite convoluted. It would be a lot easier if I merely went from Point A to Point B instead of Point A to Point G to Point C to Point R to Point B. :O)
ReplyDeleteI think my father might have a bit of that too. If a change will make things easier, he'd still like stick to the old way :)
ReplyDelete