Why does this not surprise me at all?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/magazine/26lives-t.html
I've long felt that we are living in the flakiest of times. To paraphrase the article, “maybe” means no, and “definitely yes” means probably no.
This is the age when, “I'm feeling kinda lazy tonight,” is a legitimate excuse for breaking plans with me that have been in the works for a month. Same with the mysterious, dreaded, “Something came up.”
What? What could possibly have come up? If the “something” was an eccentric billionaire who decided to whisk you off to the south of France, I would understand. But I know deep in my heart that the “something” is much more mundane. Either you made better plans with cooler people, or else you're at home watching So You Think You Can Dance.
I used to be offended that So You Think You Can Dance was a legitimate excuse for ditching me. Now, however, I'm learning to blend in with Vancouver society and just not care. Somebody bails on me to complete a laughably non-urgent task? Meh. Whatever. I Don't Need Friendship With Other People to Define Me; I Am An Individual.
I've even started learning the Vancouver Flake language. I have this one friend that I talk to every week. And, every week, we go through the same hollow motions of making plans for the weekend.
“So I'll call you on Saturday at 3?”
“Great, see you then!”
However, we both know we have no serious intention of getting together on Saturday at 3. The words have become a friendly way of saying goodbye: “I still care about you, but, meh, I've just been feeling kinda tired for the past decade. You understand.”
Same with “See you soon.” Three words that once meant: “I will meet you in the near future.” Now they too are just a way of saying goodbye, the socially accepted sounds to make when you're hanging up the phone.
So I ask you, in a world where “See you on Tuesday then,” is synonymous for “Goodbye, we may never meet again,” how do you avoid developing trust issues?
I was going to think of an answer to that question, but, well, something came up. See you soon.
