I'm not sure I know where to go with this post, so you'll have to bear with me.
I'm concerned about the general degradation of morals, character, ethics and general values in the good old U S of A.
Let's start with common courtesy. Opening doors for people. General awareness about your surroundings. Shopping at Costco, a grocery store, etc. How often do you see people hogging an aisle? They will plant themselves in the center of an aisle near a food station, and block flow in both directions. It's one thing if they are just selfish, insensitive dolts, but I just don't think they get it at all. Our society seems to be becoming more self centered. I've traveled a lot on business lately. Go through airports. People will be pulling luggage through a terminal, again in the middle of a pathway, and flat out just stop. Or they will walk with family or friends side by side by side, SLOWLY. Clueless about their surroundings or how they impact their fellow man. Cellphones use in public places. People that cross sidewalks at snails pace, like they have all the time in the world.
Getting on airplanes. I was in Barcelona a couple of months ago. I was one of the first people, getting on the plane. A family was ahead of me. The father was blocking the aisle trying to place 4 or 5 bags in the overhead bins. First of all, the selfish lout, should have put 3 bag overhead and 2 under the seats, but he was taking forever to juggle the baggage so it would all fit. NOBODY said anything. The stewardesses said nothing. Finally I yelled, "CLEAR THE AISLE". Yes, I was the ugly American, but you know what? He cleared the aisle. This is not an isolated case. I see it all the time traveling on planes.
Professional athletes, "it's all about me". Highly paid entertainers and public figures. Their sense of entitlement is amazing. I know I'm generalizing too much, but you see it more and more everyday.
Enron exec's, Worldcom, Healthsouth, Oil Company's, Hedge Funds, I could go on and on and on. It seems that whatever you can get away with is ok. I lock horns with some Conservatives on this. Some profits are obscene. Gouging the public, just screwing your fellow man is deemed perfectly acceptable.
The Media has no moral backbone. Absolutely gutless. Some Politician or other Public figure might be interviewed, and be dishing out absolute garbage, and they are not challenged.
People of faith, and ethics. How can they rationalize their faith, and yet be silent about the lack of ethics, and greed of powerful Politicians or Business people.
Our Nation has become worldclass rationalizers. I remember a line from the a movie, and it goes something like this:
Person A "Rationalizations are more important to people than Sex".
Person B "Nothing is more important than Sex"
Person A "Oh yeah. Have you ever gone more than a week without a rationalization?"
Values are like hair colors. You can discard them or change them once a week.
It's almost got to the point where people don't even recognize common courtesy anymore. Whenever I drive my car, and I see another driver who may have to wait foreever to merge or cross traffic, I will try to stop if I can and wave the in or through. Sometimes, when I do this, people just stare at me, as my gesture is so foreign to them, they don't know what to do.
My parents were relentless with my siblings and I about saying "please" and "thankyou". Always thank your host for dinner, whether you like the meal or not. Always stand to the side in a store. Always be aware of your surrounding. Always treat others the way you wish to be treated. This is exactly how I raised my kids, and maybe even more so, as I saw the decline of the Golden Rule around me and my family.
I have raised this point on other boards in different context with some Wingnuts, and I was told it was Gay's faults, Liberals faults, the rise of feminism as a fault, the rise of Civil Rights as a fault, Unions fault.
All I know is I don't like it, and it saddens me. I know my kids will keep the cause alive though.
