Object to the Adject...ives.

Social cues and interactions are some of the most interesting things to observe. Especially when people reveal their indelible density when socializing with others. It's so sad to think that social media and the age of technology have so far removed us as human beings from each other than when faced with actually having to interact, we cannot. Or at least cannot do so appropriately.

I was at the store the other day, and heard a man beckon to a girl. He said, "Hey little girl, excuse me." First of all, think about that statement, mister man. A majority of people would now expect you to remove K-Mart brand candy from your pocket and invite her into you Club Wagon. However, he didn't. But I was now on (amber) alert. The interaction was simply because she had dropped something, or an event of little importance. What struck me as odd, though, was that he used an arbitrary adjective to acknowledge her/get her attention. I realize that age probably had something to do with this interaction, but what if this "young" girl was actually a 19 year-old petite wonder. And here is this middle aged man, basically handing her a tea-set with his overarching utterance.

This use of adjectives is a lot of what I feel is wrong with the world today. And, frankly, I object. (See, Elle Woods, Blonde comma Legally.) When is it appropriate to assign a word you see as a fit descriptor of another person? Probably never, as I will now display in completely over the top examples.

"Hey, morbidly obese woman, your roll is on my arm."
"Hello, entirely too bleach blonde woman, you just sprayed self-tanner in my mouth."
"Ahoy, awkwardly smiling man, your smile is scaring me."

I realize that these seem pretty far fetched in relation to the exchange that I witnessed. But are they really any different? We as people need to acknowledge each other on an even playing field. Whether ageism, sexism, racism, homophobia, or otherwise, we must stop looking at the outward display of the person, and maybe take a step back and just see the person.