I’ve left the rat race of the car driving, fast food eating, sprawl living, Nintendo/Xbox/Playstation playing, boob tube watching day to day – or what millions in America call life – and even though there shouldn’t be excuses for living so poorly, I’m collecting what people have heard. So, what have YOU heard people say as an excuse for not living better? For not taking transit or riding a bike to take care of more things in their life? What about for eating fast food, what’s the excuse there?
Please leave comments and such! Cheers!
Yup… rat race racing…
Transit Sleuth 
I’ll help start off. One of the top one’s I hear all the time is, “I have a child(ren) and can’t do X, Y or Z because of that.” Personally I find using one’s children as an excuse is poor form at its worst.
Another I hear a lot is, “But I have a lot of important things that I have to do after work, and I can’t do them without a car.”
…and another which is complete crap, “I have to carry around a lot of stuff with me all the time (and it is usually only a notebook or a few books) to school/work/etc.”
So let me hear what you’ve heard, I’m putting together a list and throwing in some pretty epic retorts! 😀
I haven’t heard anything first hand. People who would make excuses probably only hang out with the like-minded, validating each other’s misery.
Good point. I hang out with all types so I hear these excuses a lot. Especially when I go to auto dependent cities like Houston or such.
I think your values are YOUR values. In a free society people have the right to pursue happiness as they see fit, without the government “setting the bar” so to speak.
It’s like saying ‘get a life’ a statement which is purely subjective. Your version of a life is not everybody’s version of a life.
What I am trying to say is this:
Live the way that makes you the happiest. Take nobody else’s advice but your own
I’m not sure that answers any of the questions posed. However, I totally agree, but on the flip side, most of the way Americans live these days are basically built around policies and market dictates that they’ve been fed over the last 70-90 years. This isn’t exactly the days when you gained knowledge from reading a book and you only interacted with people by going outside to the public square.
The suburbs, the idea of the two car garage, the mindset of a car being something that enables freedom, it’s all media bullshit. Any study on the topic quickly exposes most of the “American Dream” as utter nonsense that is basically a big marketing effort by the powers that be. I agree people should follow their heart, their mind, and find things for themselves. But really, honestly, is that what people do these days? I can confidently say no, there is a significant amount of subversions at play.
I imagine these are pretty stock responses, but nonetheless, it’s the excuses I’ve heard about transit:
“Doesn’t go where I need to go/doesn’t get me close enough to my destination.”
“Too slow/takes too long to get anywhere compared to driving.”
“Have to wait too long between transfers/service not frequent enough.”
“It’s dirty/too crowded.” (my favorites; basically both just mean “I don’t like to be around other people”)
“Can’t smoke pot on the bus/train.” (another fave; you shouldn’t be smoking pot in your car, either)
“Don’t like being outside in bad weather.” <– could apply to biking/walking, too.
Most people I know that won't bike (or even walk very far) use their physical health as an excuse. In some cases it's justified, but that's really about 50/50. Some people are just lazy, and the high cost of gas (for instance) incentivizes them to stay home instead of pushing them onto transit.
Oh yeah, those are all classics.
I think it’s money, time and effort.