Edgeitis - perception, static vs. dynamic - Magical Thinking

Edgeitis - perception, static vs. dynamic

Edgeitis means the habitual placing of things, particularly fragile things, such as glasses, near, on, or over an edge, so they are more likely to fall off and break. 

I have wondered about this phenomenon for some time, and come to the conclusion that it is a result of a different perception of the world. In order to give full disclosure, I should mention that writing this has helped me feel better about the loss of a very nice, large, glass teapot, that I used for my white tea. I kept it snugly away from the edge, carefully putting it back whenever I washed it. It did not even need cleaning...

When I see a glass perched right at the edge of a shelf, I see it in a position of 'unstable' or 'dynamic' equilibrium. I know that a small, nudge, as somebody walks past or reaches past it to put some item from the sink to dry, it is likely to fall over and break leaving broken glass all over the floor.

I don't think that, unlike cats, people with edgeitis deliberately want to break things at all. Cats, are notorious for nudging things towards edges, and over them, to achieve, it seems, the pleasing sound of the crash, if not necessarily to annoy the owners of the things that used not to be shards of glass.

I think there are a few factors at work. The first is perception. Where I see something with the potential to break at any minute, they see a static scene with a glass in the foreground, the thought of the dynamics doesn't occur to them.

I also think it becomes a self-perpetuating habit of mind. If you have edgeitis, you will be aware of people knocking things over quite often. You'll put it down to their clumsiness, not yours. Which means you never see any reason to change your behaviour. You are blameless, other people are clumsy.

I don't know if there is any sort of cure. I've noticed that, if you point out this phenomenon to somebody, and they begin to realise it may apply to them, rather than thank you for helping them save precious delicate items in the future by not putting them on edges, they get cross with me. An extension, perhaps, of the habit of not seeing responsibility or blame in the things that break when left on edges.

I wonder if it has other implications. For example, if you are used to things falling over and breaking quite often, not far from you, are you not likely to believe in poltergeists, ghosts, gremlins, and so forth, as explanatory reasons for this happening so much? It would be interesting of magical thinking came from a rational attempt to explain a, to you, common phenomenon of things crashing to the ground not far from you.