Getting Lectured By Others...

Being lectured sucks!  I should know, I used to do it to my old boyfriend about him wanting to ride a motorcycle.  (Oh how things have changed!)  I had the same arguments as others who cares such as "I trust you, but not other people!" or the dramatic, "But it's dangerous!" or the uber dramatic, "But you could die!!!"  For some reason, I didn't anticipated others (strangers and friends) to be lecturing me on riding.  I got my first lecture a while ago, but thought it'd be worth sharing with all of you today.

I was at a party and just met this person. She used to be a rider (not sure if just passenger or rider or both) and lectured me about how dangerous it is and proceeded to show me all of her scars and burns from the crash.  I told her that I took a riding class and wear all my gear all the time.  It didn't matter to her.  She still wanted to tell me these things.  My bias before was that only non-riders lectured about the "dangers of motorcyles"! When I say lecture, it's more of the tone of trying to convince me to stop or to say "you really don't know what you're getting yourself into." I couldn't help but feel insulted.  I wanted to get defensive and tell her all of the things I'm doing to be smart about riding, but I'm not a confrontational person.  I also figured that there was no point.  I'm not going to change her mind, just like she can't change mine.

Okay okay "scolding" is a bit of an exaggeration.  But lecturing does NOT help me!  Makes me want to rebel!  RAAaarRR!

For you riders, is this something you deal with?  If so, how?  Why do some people feel the need to lecture others?  I understand if it comes from someone who cares about you.  They are just sharing their concerns with you.  But what about strangers??  How can you listen to an important message without getting annoyed by feeling like you're getting lectured?
Written on 6/3/11