The Art of Avoidance
We all do it. Some of us manage to perfect the art of avoidance to an arcane art. Most of us practise avoidance in one way or another. Procrastination? Avoidance usually of a temporary nature, but bound to fail. I indulged in some avoidance of my own this evening, while chuckling at the avoidance clumsily set into motion by others doing their utmost to avoid my very presence.I had another door-to-door canvass to carry off. This time for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. And guess what? That's my total effort for this year. Two such canvasses are more than enough for one person to inflict on her neighbours. Three of them, four, and you're nudging the abyss. I'd already been out one evening last week and brought my temporary mission to the fortunate inhabitants of the top half of the street on which I live. Tonight I blessed the bottom half of the street with my knock-on-the-door and intrusionary intro.
When I've canvassed for charitable enterprises like Heart and Stroke, Arthritis Society, I had no true vested interest. When I canvassed for the Canadian Diabetes Association and the Salvation Army, I did have a deep interest in the success of the canvass, although whatever canvass I'm associated with I do pursue my part with conviction. I've always canvassed for the Canadian Cancer Society, even before my parents had their private conversations with cancer. And since my sister is legally blind, there's my connection with CNIB. On the other hand, I recognize the need of these groups and someone has to help, so I'm just one of many who contribute their time and energy to the process.
It is a truly miserable thing to do; to knock on a door for the purpose of extracting money from unwilling householders. Even if a notable percentage of those canvassed understand the process, the reason for it, its place in the functioning of a healthy society. Needless to say these are, for the most part, that segment of the population who agree with the transaction. Of the others, those who view the canvasser with suspicion and hostility, who can blame them? It's an intrusion into someone's privacy. No less so than that of the evangelical zeal of the Seventh Day Adventist, seeking to convert.
And even though I put off the actual process for as long as I'm able to, avoid going out until I can no longer live with the thought that it's still there and will remain there until the job is done, there are some aspects of this social arm-twisting that compensate. For you do see neighbours you ordinarily would not see, and some of them are well worth conversing and socializing with, albeit infrequently and superficially. Some of these contacts are valuable emotional transactions enriching the lives of the givee and the giver.
And some of the avoidance techniques practised imperfectly but effectively by many of those whose homes you approach are cause for introspective thought in the sense that one compartmentalizes "types", placing many of these avoidees in various categories of avoidance and social awareness or lack thereof. It cues you into mental gymnastics of a most interesting variety. That is, when you're not doing a silent simmer at the downright rude behaviour of some people - but just a minute here, who's the intruder?
In the final analysis all of us practise the type of civic and social interaction that experience and personality and economics places us in. And with the tools we have at hand, we do the best we can.
posted by Pieface @ Monday, May 29, 2006
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