Please mention both positive and negative things you have learned about human nature while unicycling.
Here’s what I learned 3 days ago while unicycling. I met a man who was first surprised to see me unicycle and asked how I braked and then suspiciously (I believe he was lying) told me he used to himself unicycle but stopped when he broke his leg from a motorcycle accident. And then he proceeded to say that there were some 13 unicyclists who unicycled at dawn along the beach in Beirut. I was surprised that there would be so many and I never knew. I think he was simply lying out of low self-esteem.
So I learned that some people will never grant you the advantage of being able to do something they can’t do (i.e. unicycling), being people who use every ability only as material to boast about.
Another thing I learned from this encounter is that unicycling is an ability the enjoyment of which no one can rob you of or take away from you, no matter how much they may lie to you out of envy.
I have learnt that people are very ignorant and very jealous!
People believe that if you unicycle that you are unstable, they don’t see you riding in a straight line, they see you on one wheel and assume that you are unstable then shout at you or get annoyed. Also they don’t take the time to think that you as a unicyclist have heard the ‘where’s the other wheel’ joke 500000000 times that session let alone since you started riding!
People as you say, will never allow you the advantage of what you can do! They call you names, laugh at you and heckle to try to make them in some way better than you, when quite clearly you can do something a lot better than they ever could!
I’ve learned that many people are not as inhibited as they usually would be when they see someone unicycling. Some adults will act just like little kids when it comes to seeing me riding. I usually just ride along and enjoy the commotion when this happens. It’s especially cute when it’s a little kid and you know he’s just in awe at the seeing it in person.
I have learned that people in small town are amazed at first, but in time get bored of it. I miss the strange comments they would give me, but they are use to it now. I have learned that the unusual can become usual.
-I learned that through practice, a lot is possible.
-I learned that something like the unicycle is so very zen like. You can learn so much from it that isnt unicycling. . . So good for you.
I also learned that people are very ignorant to the first thing I mentioned. There are a lot of people out there who dont think they can do simple things.
Some people seem almost disappointed when I assure them it’s not hard, just a matter of practice. Sort of as if they want to believe it’s actually impossible.
Maybe it’s because if the impossible becomes possible, then what is impossible? This is the mental reassurance of having clear limits to possibilities.
Maybe it also has to do with their own lives. If they see that nearly anything is possible if they put their minds to it, then they will have to condemn themselves for their lack of effort in their lives, perhaps in the areas where they have failed or think they have failed, where they have given up and thought/rationalized that it was impossible. They now realize that after all with a little more effort it may have been possible and that maybe it’s still possible. It would have been easier if it were really impossible. Then they could rationalize that their failure was not due to them but due to the impossibility of success in the given situation! Impossibility is a good excuse for laziness. So impossibility, or the idea of it, is kind of reassuring. The sight of a unicyclist comes as a blow to this reassuring idea or defence of impossibility and exposes one principal rationalization of the lazy. So a lazy person confronted with this exposure of their defence, will feel bad and may wish to deny what their senses tell them in order to have an excuse to persist in their laziness.
You can see people as falling into two categories; those who delight in the talents and abilities of others; those who are envious of the talents and abilities of others. Sure, the division into categories is probably an over simplification, but my observation is based upon a very simple test.
The people who smile and look at you (regardless of corny jocular comments) are those who delight in your ability. The people who look grim and will not make eye contact are consumed with envy.
I ride in a small town (more of a dirt bike/ATV kind of town) So I have noticed the same as trickcyclist, but the way it percolated in my brain was Unicycling confronts people with the strange and challenges them and they have to come up with something quick and what they say, says a lot about them.
Most sports have come easy to me, but in Uni I have been on the slow side compared to others, but I have learned with time and enough perseverance it comes. That has helped me at work (see a big project as a lot of little steps, no matter how bleak it looks half way though a project keep going), little ways like that.
I can’t really say I’ve discovered anything negative. Even the where’s your other tire thing is okay with me. I give the usual responses (looking for it, it’s with my handlebars, etc) and most people laugh and I laugh and two people’s days are brightened a bit.
I’ve experienced the same – one person said “oh, I’m not so impressed anymore” when I told him that all it takes is practice. I laughed; I prefer that it’s attainable and I like to encourage people to have a go (and I’ll happily teach them if they’re interested).
Really? I Coker to and from work every day in Boston and people in cars love seeing it. They usually slow down so they can watch haha. I can take up an entire lane and no one honks or gets pissy.
Being visible is key. No one seems to pay attention because their caught up in their own frustrations in traffic or not going where they expected, or having to get 3’ ahead of the next jerk at the expense of all rational thought… I wonder how anyone survives it. In the suburbs, where they’re finally home from the city, (like within a mile of their houses) is where most accidents are. Maybe that’s my region of true near death experiences. I have been hit 4 times out here. (on bicycles across 20years) In Somerville and Cambridge, I have experienced what you have when they are looking -once their nature has been altered by my simple wheel. So I guess I’m speaking of North of Boston Massholes. Oh, and you’re pretty safe in Concord too!