Whatever Happened To...?
I left out the object of that query with good reason.
I want to toss out there certain "things" that I've noticed have been MIA of late.
Used to be a time when we had a better undertsanding of one another.
And we also had a better respect of same.
Today...not so much.
Now, I've never been one of those people who raises their little finger when sipping a cup of tea, nor am I the one that sits at dinner tables replete with more hardware than the 3rd Infantry Division.
I'm just your average guy with honest concerns about the path much of society seems to be travelling on these days.
We, as a society seem to be missing something, and you can look no farther than to the next generation to understand this.
We seem to be lacking MANNERS, or, perhaps to put it more succinctly, "Etiquette".
I was talking with the missus the other day about proper MOVIE PROTOCOL...
You know...when you go to a real THEATER, and you take OFF your hat, so the person behind you can see the screen (Afro hairstyles of the 70s played HELL with that, believe me).
And you didn't really take the infant to a movie that had a sound system that could make one's ears bleed, because that infant "might" want to cry throughout the WHOLE picture, right?
Nor did people have the "need" to describe the whole movie to the person sitting next to them, like they were incapable of reasoning the plotline and character involvement. Those that did such things were asked to LEAVE the theater, or just didn't bother to come, which made watching a movie in a real MOVIE HOUSE a treat for everyone.
Can't say that today, can we?
And there used to be a certain "etiquette" on the highways.
You didn't SHOOT PEOPLE because they cut you off. That was on THEM, and all you did was blow it off, hoping their stupidity and haste would somehow find them married to a tree further down the road, or pulled over by the State Police (as was more often the case...score one for OUR side).
You respected your PARENTS, your RELATIVES, and basically anyone OLDER than you. You respected your TEACHERS, the crossing guard, store owners, and the POLICE.
You even respected other people who wanted to just be LEFT THE HELL ALONE. And you respected their property, so no tossing that football through Mrs. Smith's window or bouncing it off her car, right?
Yeah, there USED to be a time when that was pretty much SOP.
I can still recall a time when you would go over to someone else's house, and you walked your ass up TO THE DOOR...and KNOCKED (or rang the bell) to see if they were home and/or coming outside, instead of sitting at the curb, and blowing your damn car horn, disturbing the rest of the block in the process.
And there WAS a time when you needed to contact someone, you went to their house, wrote them a letter (we still do that, right?), or CALL THEM on the phone (the one on the wall...with a cord). And for some strange reason, back then, we didn't feel all this "immediacy" bullsh*t when to came to talking to people. If it was THAT important...it would wait a few minutes. At least, that's what my folks used to say.
Today, it's a whole other ballgame.
We simply NEED to use that cellphone to let others know that: "I'm callin' you from the deep end of the pool at the Hyatt, dude"!
Now...is it just ME, or do most of us appear to be overly distracted by all this hyped technology these days?
And if we ARE distracted (which seems to be the case), WHAT (exactly) are we being distracted FROM?
Now, I'm no real conspiracy theorist, but there DOES seem to be something (or someone) at work here, keeping our "eyes from the prize", as it were. Our attention is constantly being "diverted" with some new item, technology, or media story we just HAVE to watch.
And, in many ways, we're being diverted on too consistant a basis.
So WTH is going on while we're all busy with forcing ourselves into the next level of ADHD, anyway?
Well, all one has to do is pick up a paper or turn on the TV news to find out.
Oops...welcome to REALITY.
Guess we didn't "see" that coming, did we?
Must have been to busy with too many other trivial things.
That mindset has become our new "etiquette".
Our LACK of etiquette and manners has become our "new" eitquette and manners.
Helluva trade-off, isn't it?
I'm thinking we, as a nation, have to back off the throttle on this one, lest we succumb TO all this technology.
Sure, it's nice to have, but when dependency on all this crap becomes our new "savior", we are all made lesser, as human beings, because of it. Not that pretty a picture, is it?
Technology is good, but the irresponsible USE and application of it IS NOT.
We just need to all get back to basics here, and start practicing some manners, etiquette and restraint where all this is concerned.
Put DOWN the iPod, turn OFF the Blackberry, STOP tweeting for a few minutes, and look long and hard at yourself, and then think about how your parents made out without all this tripe, and how much better they "behaved" themselves in the process. They had better manners.
There IS a time and place for all this technology...we just have to RE-LEARN when that time IS...and when it IS NOT. Simple, huh?
Manners, etiquette, protocol..call it what you will.
We have it within ourselves to practice it, as our forefathers did...as our parents and grandparents did.
Just use a bit more COMMON SENSE instead of the cell phone.
You just might sneak a peek at the world as it's going by (and actually like and appreciate it)...AND become a bit more mannerly along the way. Please and thank you still go a long way for such short words. Consideration for others is pretty decent too.
Overall, not such a bad thing, is it?
(Had a feeling you'd say that...lol)
And to my loving wife...Happy Birthday, Sweetie!
(Even Fido has his party hat on)
You ain't getting older...you're getting BETTER!
(and time for cake...mmmmm)
Everyone else have a great day, and...
Stay safe out there, America.
(woof)