Annoyance, a Virtue

The simple truth is, I annoy people.

I think the people closest to me would call me annoying at my core.

In fact, the better they know me, the more annoying they think I am.

I’ve come to realize this is a feature of who I am, not an undesirable side effect.

I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that my girlfriend, friends, and family consciously or subconsciously avoid certain phrases like “mass transit” or “the suburbs” to prevent me from launching into a rant about how our Nation’s divestment from mass transit has not only been disastrous for the environment and the urban poor, but has also been extremely costly to our society and left absolutely nobody happy. (There I go again.)

I’m almost certain I annoy people at parties by reminding them of the far-flinging consequences of car culture, or about how we MUST care about the oysters in the New York City harbor.

My actions remind me a lot of my favorite character from the wizarding world: Hermione Granger.

For the Potter nerds out there, you may recall the side plot in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire about Hermione Granger working on the issue of house elf rights. Here’s a snippet:

“House-elves!” said Hermione, her eyes flashing. “Not once, in over a thousand pages, does Hogwarts, A History mention that we are all colluding in the oppression of a hundred slaves!”
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Harry shook his head and applied himself to his scrambled eggs. His and Ron’s lack of enthusiasm had done nothing whatsoever to curb Hermione’s determination to pursue justice for house elves.

A few things stand out about this passage.

First, Hermione is undoubtedly doing something both noble and worthwhile, given the unfortunate plight of the house elves and their slavery state.

Second, Ron and Harry are annoyed and uncomfortable, because Hermione has brought an inconvenient, disturbing truth to their attention.

The reactions that Ron and Harry give remind me exactly why I don’t annoy more people.

As I read this scene, I feel the discomfort I feel when I go on about high-speed trains with the wrong crowd. I can feel the eyes darting away or the heads looking down, the foot turned away from me, and the tone of their next sentence screaming, “Please change the subject.”

Yet I’ve come to decide that I should lean into exactly this. These ideas are what I think about in the shower, before bed, and as I journal in the morning.

Even if they make others uncomfortable at first, I’ve seen among my closest friends how they, often through sheer persistence, puncture through.

Given the state of the world, being annoying is more important than ever.

In her essay How to Talk about Climate Change, climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe makes the point that moving towards climate solutions likely won’t occur from convincing the oil barons or the car industry why they should care and take action.

It’s more likely to come about from convincing those who already agree that it’s a problem to take action. She writes, “Addressing climate change begins by actually talking about it.”

Addressing all of that which is most important to us, begins by talking about it. Like the plight of the house elves, talking about it will bring up uncomfortable truths. It often takes someone annoying to educate us, remind us, and make us uncomfortable, just as Hermione does with Ron and Harry.

For my part, this year my goal is to be more annoying.

Whatever big ideas and problems you care about, I hope you’re more annoying about them too. I want you to ring it in my ears so often I wake up in my sleep thinking about it.

Abrazos,

~David

Newt Scamander: People like you, don’t they, Mr. Kowalski?

Jacob Kowalski: Oh. Well, I’m, uh, I’m sure people like you, too, huh?

Newt Scamander: Not really, no. I annoy people.

– Fantastic Beasts, and Where to Find Them

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