We open 2015’s posts with me on an airplane reading Quiet, by Susan Cain. I’m only a chapter in, but so far, the book is a study of introverts and how they, too, occupy a justifiable place in society.

I was considering what I had read as I walked to the back of the plane to use the restroom. Once there, I was reminded that there are more important personality distinctions than merely extroverts, ambiverts and introverts.

For example, there are men who lift the seat when they urinate and those who don’t.

How societally unaware, selfish and in one’s own head a man must be to just urinate all over a public seat when they could just as easily lift it, as intended. Is it that hard to consider that you’re on a plane that is most likely half filled with women who need to sit?

Even if the plane were filled with all men, we wouldn’t all just go in there and urinate on the seat. We’d lift the seat and keep it up. (Not to mention that at least once a day, if all’s going well, men need to sit, as well.)

I put these people right up there with those who walk out of buildings or out of buses and stand in front of the just-exited doors to look around and assess where they are and where they need to go; trapping all of those behind them who must wait for them to sort it out and get out of the way of the doors.

And I would be remiss in not mentioning those who approach a red traffic light with two lane options who select the lane with 10 cars versus the one with one car.

Studies of people like the aforementioned, along with those who insist on turning the heat up in a room full of people, not considering that the hottest among us can only strip down so much before we push the boundaries of societal acceptability, while those who are too cold can always don a sweater.

Anyway, Quiet appears to be a promising book, and I look forward to reading further.