Uncomfortable

So, here's a situation that really can only happen to a guy.

Was in the men's restroom here at work, and was at the urinal. There are two of them, with a little divider between the two. Right to the left and perpendicular to the urinals, is a bank of 5 stalls, the furthest one being the handicapped stall. So, I'm at the urinal, and the stall next to the handicapped one is occupied. A guy walks in and promptly walks right behind me into the first and closest stall to the urinal and where I'm standing. Really? You had to choose that exact stall, you couldn't have chosen the second stall, which would have allowed 1 stall between you and the 4th stall and 1 stall between me and you? You had to choose the one right next to me? Not cool at all.

Ok, with that rant done, let's move on to the City of Berkeley.

Now, I have my problems with the City of Berkeley, but they've surprisingly done some decent things like criminalizing sleeping on the streets and so forth, but today, they've undone all that. Today, the Chronicle reports that Berkeley has too many memorial benches. According to the article, these benches, that people pay to be installed in 2 parks in Berkeley as a way to memorialize and remember family members, are "destroying the "visual character" of the city's "parkland and urban forest."" Deputy City Manager Lisa Caronna further notes that

"Do we want plaques and memorials strewn over our public parks?" she added. "A lot of people are offended by it - they feel that the reminders of other people's family and friends diminishes the feeling of freedom and peace you're supposed to have in a public park."

Really? A bench is offending people and diminishes a feeling of freedom and peace. . .in a park?

They are considering limiting the ability of people to pay the City to install a bench unless that person had "a transcendent relationship between the park and the individual." Now, one definition of transcendent is "Being above and independent of the material universe." So, how would the city define "transcendent"? For example, couldn't the spirit (or even a memory) of a dead person be transcendent? And couldn't that spirit then be linked to that park, say. . by a bench that allows a family member to sit and remember that individual, perhaps bringing an internal peace to that family member? What a terrible thing that would be.