Retirement from Drama

In many of the online circles I frequent, including Guild Wars 2, Ingress, and Facebook, there is a general eyerolling about what is generally termed "drama." There is some small ambiguity to the term, but I will look to the Urban Dictionary for this and they say it is a consistent "overreaction."

We must be careful here, because mean spirited people have used this label to denigrate activists with a refined sense of justice. There may be some debate about what is an "overreaction" to a particular condition, event, or remark. In the context of online gaming, people who become enraged at perceived injustices in a fantasy world may not understand the broader context of life and may, in fact, become accustomed to gamer overreaction and conflict as a part of their persona and even a part of the game itself. There are online folks who cannot stand criticism of any type, and if it is to a third party it becomes betrayal of the highest order. There are some who define drama as inherently about the triangles of gossip and conflicting boundaries. Sometimes drama is simply the term for intense conflict. 

However defined, in the best worlds, there would be less drama. There might be disagreement, but it would be handled in an adult way and folks wouldn't go looking for interpersonal trouble.

Sometimes we are stuck with drama. We may have a coworker who tends to paranoia. We may be in middle management where our loyalties are complex. We may live under the authority of someone who regularly puts us in a difficult situation. Imagine working in the White House these days! High drama!

Since retirement usually has a higher degree of freedom in it, I have seen in retirees I know a lower tolerance of drama. I have tried to talk several retired folks onto boards of one type or another, only to be faced with a genial smile and a polite, "O no, I'll be happy to help, but I don't do those things anymore." Another big smile that says "I'm not getting drawn into petty drama one more time if I have a choice." These are the same folks who will work for hours doing good deeds of one type or another.

We should start a committee of retirees to investigate this phenomena and make detailed policy recommendations. O wait. None of them would agree to be on it.