Blast From The Past

On Saturday I went to go see the new IMAX movie "Jerusalem" at the Museum of Science. (It's there because the Museum also has the Dead Sea Scrolls on display. Quick movie review: eh. As you would expect from an IMAX movie it is visually stunning, but there isn't a whole lot of point. It is supposed to explain how this one small area of the globe came to be the center of three major religions while getting a view of how life is there now through the eyes of three young girls who all grew up there but have different religious backgrounds. It did those things but that was kind of it. I guess I was expecting a big moral to the story which wasn't there.) Anyway, we got there super early and so I had time to walk around a few of the displays outside the Omni Theater. It was kind of surreal experience. Like any kid who grew up around Boston I went to the Science Museum once a year on field trips, but hadn't been back since I went to see a laser light show in college. It was very strange to see that while just enough things had switched to let you know time had passed, most of it was still the same. They still had the chart telling you how much you would weigh on the Moon versus on Earth and the pendulum clock was still swinging next to the coach check room. If you had just woken me from a coma and taken me there without telling me how long I had been out I would have guesses a year, maybe two but never over a decade. It made me think about how it's never the objects in our lives which change that much, just our perspective about them. It actually turned out to be a good precursor for later that night.

Because getting around the Museum can be tricky I figured it would easier to just take the Green Line over. Going to the Museum it appeared to be a great plan, as we got there with plenty of time to spare. It was when we were leaving that things took a turn because the first train we got on was nice and empty since it was the first stop. However, because the MBTA is kind of stupid we had to get off that train and onto another one, which was slightly more crowded and it only got more crowded as we got closer to the city. But I've always said it is not crowds which bother me, it is the people who make them up that will determine how tolerant I feel like being. When the train stopped and I was immediately hit with a cloud of Drakkar Noir I knew I was in trouble. (Free tip for the teenage readers: one quick squirt is enough. Axe Body Spray is lying to you about how much to use to get you to buy more of their product.) Sure enough, a large group of 14 or 15 year-olds stumbled onto the train and gathered right in front of me. They were falling all over each other as well as the passengers seated nearby and blocking the path of people trying to get by but they were too far into their own little world to notice how quickly they had annoyed everyone on the train. They could have easily made more room if they had just wandered further into the train but apparently they hadn't quite figured out how steps worked just yet so they just clustered in the middle of the aisle. A piece of furniture would have been less of an intrusion.

This scenario pretty much represents my worst nightmare - being surrounded by a group of kids who just started going through puberty and yet who actually believe that what they think regarding events which are happening in the world is important. Just because you're doing very well in social studies doesn't mean I want to hear your thoughts on Syria considering you still won't be old enough to vote in the next Presidential election. Even worse, kids are incredibly self-involved at that age. They kept getting in everyone's way, stepping people's feet and yelling their conversations the length of the train. (As you would expect they spent every second they weren't talking with their faces in their phones. I almost wanted to suggest they text rather than yell.) But worse than that, they were just rude. Every time a chair opened up these teens dove for it like they were going to die if they had to keep standing even though there were older riders who probably could have used the seat. I couldn't even get up to offer a woman my seat because they had blocked me and I am pretty sure a teen would have just taken it anyway. (I am well aware that my nieces and nephew will eventually morph into exactly these annoying little monsters. That is not what I am worried about. I love them and always will no matter how much they annoy society. What I'm not looking forward to is the first time one of the girls brings one of them home to meet the family because I don't care about them. I may kill the first one to send a message.)

But before I exploded at these kids about how they just need to sit down and shut up I stopped and reminded myself that I was once just like them. Maybe not that annoying, but I am sure I was pretty close. After I reminded myself of that fact I actually felt kind of bad for these kids because the only thing sadder than being the person everyone else finds annoying is not realizing that is how the rest of the world sees you. (Actually, there is one things worse: knowing that the world finds you annoying and not doing something to correct that behavior.) Plus, high school freshman is a tough time because you finally made it to the top of the grade school ladder only to find yourself back on the bottom rung. Not to mention, when I was going through my awkward phase I didn't have to deal with things like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram which not only lets everyone know about the mistakes you make which used to be able to stay private, now they broadcast them to the entire world, so people who don't even know you are making fun of you. Plus, even though I know everything they are stressing over now is going to seem really stupid in about 3 years those kids certainly don't. Until you've dealt with big issue the small ones seem enormous. That moment of introspection changed my whole feeling towards this group. All that being said, it didn't do anything for my nostrils and two days later I'm still getting whiffs of the cheapest cologne known to man, so from now on any time I need to go to the Science Museum, I'm driving there.