Last week, a reader who calls himself herself FRUSTRATED AT 50 wrote a guest blog about his her difficulties finding a job. Last I checked there were 45 comments on that entry, which either means FRUSTRATED AT 50 struck a chord or he's she's paying his her friends to comment.
FRUSTRATED AT 50 has written a second entry, and this one is about you damn kids!!! (shakes fist). Enjoy.
Has anyone noticed how rude people in our society have become? Why are older people not treated by the younger generation with the dignity and respect they deserve? From what I can see, young people treat eveyone equally =- there is no longer any distinction between those that are older , and those their own age, parents included, They seem to really make no distinction based on age - how sad!
Growing up, we were taught to revere and respect those older than us . In our world, there does not only seem to be a lack of respect for those older, but, for authority figures in general . Is that the fault of how we are raising these kids, is it the world in which these kids are living , is it the fractured families and high divorce rates? what is it? the influence of the media ? the music ? are the old ways of treating others, no longer applicable in todays world?
How about driving on our roads these days? When was the last time you were needing to merge into another lane, only to have other cars speed up , deliberately, just not to let you in!? And how about when someone does let you in , what happened to the wave of thanks ....now , no wave , no thank you.
What ever happened to "please" and "thank you" - a thing of the past too ? And " you are welcome" has been replaced by" no problem" = what is that???
Holding doors open for the person ahead of you or behind you = is that a thing of the past ? I have had the door, slammed right in my face , by the person ahead of me, clearly oblivious to their ignorance.
And how about addressing adults or people in authority as Mr. or Mrs. Ms. - everyone is on a first name basis with everyone, regardless of age .....teachers, parents, receptionists, everyone is addressed , as if they know you personally, regardless of whether they do or do not.
What about parking in a busy parking lot? What happened to whoever got there first, deserves the spot - how many times have people aggressively grabbed the spot you were so patiently and courteously waiting for?
And how about movie theaters and people having their cell phones ringing or worse, their blackberry screens lighting up all over the theatre , like a Christmas tree? And what about the people in the theatres that are commenting on everything that appears on the screen throughout the movie?
And what about your neigbors who cannot be bothered to walk their dogs and instead put them out in their backyards, while all the neigbors need to listen to this dog bark incessantly and disturb all the neigbors around for miles? Until these dog owners decide that they now are good and ready to let the dog back in the house and restore peace to the neighbourhood .
How about the neigbors who decide to start their lawn-mowing/snowblowing at 6 am on a Sunday morning? How about consideration - does it still exist? and it is usually those same people who encourage their children to play on their driveways with basketballs at 6 am on a Sunday morning!
And let's talk about a well advertised super sale in a store where there are hundreds of shoppers vying for the same item only to get trampled .........again with no apologies ? It seems as if our society and the people in it, no longer expect decent behaviour. It seems anything goes.
How about granchildren that are so self consumed that when their grandparents call them on their cell phones, and leave messages, those calls are not even returned - do people in their 80's now need to text their grandchildren to get their attention? how sad is that! What about going out of your way to visit those same grandparents that they cannot be bothered to call back = drop by and say hello - that too, is unheard of!!
And don' t get me talking about the age of screening your callers, letting your answering machine pick up your calls and no longer needing to actually take the calls - what happened to the days of not knowing who was calling and actually picking up the phone and being surprised and delighted by the call? are those days done too???
What else ? let' s see = how about snapping your fingers at a waiter to get their attention - I am sure that has been happening forever, but truly, it is the height of rudeness.
What about this new thing of when you are wrong and have hurt another person that it seems not to phase some folks? Have we become so desensitized in our world that we no longer care about the next guy?
Should we go back to my favourite topic of job hunting in today's work world? Where you show up for the interview earlier than scheduled, hoping to make a good impression, and find yourself having to wait at least a half hour beyond your scheduled time - payback for you being early - presumably!!
How about when you leave voice messages for people and it takes them days and sometimes a week to call back, claiming they are so busy and did not have a minute - are they the only ones that are busy?? - presumably!!
I hate that term = " busy " - it is , as far as I can see, the translation for= "cannot be bothered "- translation - you don't matter to me.
I guess what I am trying to get at, is that, it would appear in my opinion, that being well mannered and polite is no longer the norm in the world we are living in. It seems that everyone acts independently, often with no regard for those around us.
When I started asking friends and family , for their thoughts on this topic, they overwhelmingly agreed that decency and care for others seems really to have gone by the wayside.
Your thoughts ? Your experiences? Your beefs? Do share !!!
