Peacock Pride

I’m a little bit tired of this these days. Do you know what I’m talking about?

Peacocks use their feathers to draw attention to themselves. They parade back and forth, fanning their feathers until someone takes notice, hopefully a female. I imagine in the peacock brain, he thinks that if he doesn’t fan just the right way or enough times, then no females will think he’s cool enough. This makes it easier for the females to compare; otherwise, how would she know which one is best?

Although, I believe a very useful analogy of dating also exists here, it’s not the one on which I’d like to concentrate my comments. I’m talking about the everyday peacocks. The ones who just can’t seem to get enough attention in life. The ones who: Just. Keep. Talking. No matter who is or is not listening. The ones who spend all of their energy cutting you off and one-upping you to death. The ones who can’t stand any kind of divided attention. The ones who are not familiar with the definition of hyperbole and don’t realize that they’ve also invented the hyperhyperbole. The ones who do not know the delicious serenity of silence and prevent you from that pleasure as well. Those are the people I’m referring to—those ones.

Honestly, I’m not sure why it bugs me so much, but it really does. I’d rather talk to a brick wall than a peacock; at least the brick wall knows how to keep quiet. Every time I survive one of these peacock sessions, I can only hear one word screaming in my mind—why!? For heaven sake, why are you making an idiot of yourself trying to impress people!? But, alas, the peacock doesn’t process words like “idiot” either, along with “hyperbole.”

But then, I think, am I being too tough? If I really stop and think about it, I know I’ve been given to peacock behavior now and then myself. It is natural to fish for compliments once and awhile. Don’t we all do it? Something as simple as, “How do I look, honey?” That’s one I definitely can’t deny; DH would second that, I’m sure. Even children learn it from a young age. Don’t we all remember saying, “Hey mom! Look at me! Look at me! Look what I can do!” So, at what point does this spiral out of control? At what time does a person become so much “peacock” that they lose their ability to carry on a normal conversation, and I would even argue, their sanity? Not only that, but WHY? Please, for the love of pete, WHY?

It will forever be a mystery for me, I fear. I don’t know why those poor peacocks spend so much energy fluffing their feathers in my face, when all they have to do is be normal. I would think it would be exhausting, always trying to out talk everyone else and going on and on about yourself. If you just act normal, I’ll think you’re great! And so will everyone else around you. Simple as that.