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Standing in line at the DMV made me see something about people
I was at the DMV in Tacoma last Tuesday, waiting for over an hour like everyone else. The room was full of that quiet, grumpy energy. But then I watched an older man help a young mom fill out a form because her hands were full with a baby. She looked so stressed, and he just quietly pointed to the lines. A few minutes later, someone else passed a pen down the row to a guy who dropped his. It was this tiny chain of small help, no big deal. It hit me that in places we all hate, where we feel stuck and annoyed, we actually show our best side without even trying. We're all in the same boat, so why not make it a little easier for each other? Has anyone else had a moment like that in a totally ordinary, frustrating place?
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the_jennifer7mo ago
Wish I could agree but honestly the DMV just shows how low the bar is. We help with pens because the system is so broken that basic decency feels amazing. Most people still look miserable and just want to get out, they're not secretly showing their best side. It's more like we're all drowning and occasionally someone passes a life raft, but we're still in the ocean.
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sage6057mo ago
Oh man, that reminds me of my friend's story at the post office. She was mailing a huge stack of packages, totally flustered, and this guy in line behind her just started helping her tape boxes shut. No words, just ripped off pieces of tape for like five minutes. @the_jennifer I get your point about the low bar, but sometimes that tiny help is the only good thing in a bad system. It doesn't fix the ocean, but it keeps someone's head above water for a second.
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kelly.charlie6mo ago
I read a book about this once, it was by a guy who studied waiting in line. He said these boring shared spaces, like the DMV or a bus stop, are where we practice being a community without any pressure. We're all stuck, so we make little temporary rules, like saving a spot or sharing a pen. It's not about fixing the big problem, it's about the small agreement that we won't make it worse for each other. That old man helping with the form, that's the agreement in action.
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