Kharma

I’m imaging a latitudinal study looking for correlations between various mental illnesses and the time it takes to get a boarding pass at the old-school international counter (with service by humans and all that).

We all know there’s a correlation there. I don’t know how we know, we just do. The madder they are, the longer you wait.

Firstly there the delusional types that want a bunch of unpaid-for concessions such as upgrades, forward seats with empty ones next to them, four empty seats for a sleep, etc. 

Then there are the deeply insecure folks that worry about the type of plane, the experience of the pilot, etc, and expect the desk jockey to know the answers.

Those with Alzheimer’s ask time and again where the departure gate is.

The narcissist stands there for five minutes after being served, zipping up pockets and bags and checking for their various paper accoutrements, blocking the counter for use by others.

The family of dullards impacted by the lead in the soil under their house will certainly take half an hour to check in. Odd members will wander off only to be shouted at to come back at critical moments.

Yes, I believe a study of these behaviours would be very revealing. All it would take is a camera and a microphone, which are probably already in place.

I’m guessing that mental illnesses and deleterious character traits all act to concentrate the attention on the self (as do all illnesses) thereby reducing a person’s sensitivity to the needs and desires of those in the queue behind them.

Or, conversely, one could say that a sign of good mental health is empathy in its broadest sense, to kin and to strangers, whether one owes them favours or nowt.

Kharma begets kharma. Which is yet another reason why intervention in mental health issues is so important.