Why Should We Complain?

I believe the unwillingness to dispel our dissatisfaction comes not only from a fear of authority, but from an unwillingness to disturb ourselves. Certainly, if one were sitting and sweating in a room, and all he had to do was rise and turn down the heater, even if the sole entity in the room, he may not take it upon himself to move. It isn't just fear that arrests us, but a heightened laziness. There have been times, for instance, in which I was too warm by a bit and had complete control over my predicament-- all I had to do was take off a sweatshirt-- but some mysterious unwillingness to move implored me to exchange the annoyance of an hour for of a moment's inconvenience. Similarly, if I needed to hydrate or relieve myself, I may hold off until I finish this chapter or this episode or whatever, rather than do so immediately. To do so would be an inconvenient exertion the lack of which brings about a perturbation I would rather suffer.

Along with the laziness is an element of apathy. Perhaps the specific annoyance isn't a big deal, so you don't deal with it. If we were to comb ourselves for every minor dissatisfaction, we would be relentlessly adjusting our corporeal position, or constantly itching our shins, or undergoing whatever other satisfactions. Such a procedure would be more annoying than any cottonmouth.

So, we put off or ignore things that don't matter much. It's a from of apathy, but not a necessarily bad one. I'm sure a lot of Buckley's buddies in the movie theatre either didn't care or didn't think it mattered much that the focus was a little bit off. Buckley doesn't have the only sound attitude concerning the "Why Don't We Complain?" idea. It isn't just about hoping someone else will do the job. I mean, what about Buckley's newspaper-reading seatmate, who did not seem at all disturbed with the temperature, but rather was annoyed by Buckley's "sibilant intrusion". Perhaps most of our apathy goes too far, but it remains as a deterrent to our complaints.