There was a time when good manners were commonplace. Young adults answered with the customary "Yes, ma'am" and "No, sir," gentlemen tipped their hats and neighbors banded together to welcome new families.
We were gracious in conduct and courteous in demeanor, contributing a thread of gentility to our surroundings. Sadly, I had to watch old episodes of Leave It to Beaver to come across manners like that. Welcome to 2006.
We are different today—an era of fast cars, fast food, fast computers and dwindling tolerance. Civility seems doomed to extinction. It should have its own glass case alongside Archie Bunker's chair in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
Rudeness is a problem.
We have become a people where blatant disrespect is everyday: a surly bunch of unchaperoned schoolchildren with full reign of the classroom.
Take our behavior behind the wheel, for example. Remember the days when a car ride was a pleasant event? Neither do I. Our daily commute can be as treacherous as the Indianapolis 500.
And God help us if traffic is at a standstill. The language is fouler than the fumes in the air.
Rudeness has many faces.
Lack of manners for Americans is not whether you confuse the salad fork for the dinner fork. It's about the daily assault of selfishness—inconsiderate behavior.
Rudeness can be found in high schools where fierce competitiveness dominates the popularity game and in the workplace where the "kill or be killed" philosophy, once the underbelly of ambition, is now the standard.
Insolence is like a cancer. Simply put, it is a question of sides.
Some favor a well-mannered society and will stifle their rudeness. The others are the conspirators in the quickening demise of civility and respect.
We were gracious in conduct and courteous in demeanor, contributing a thread of gentility to our surroundings. Sadly, I had to watch old episodes of Leave It to Beaver to come across manners like that. Welcome to 2006.
We are different today—an era of fast cars, fast food, fast computers and dwindling tolerance. Civility seems doomed to extinction. It should have its own glass case alongside Archie Bunker's chair in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
Rudeness is a problem.
We have become a people where blatant disrespect is everyday: a surly bunch of unchaperoned schoolchildren with full reign of the classroom.
Take our behavior behind the wheel, for example. Remember the days when a car ride was a pleasant event? Neither do I. Our daily commute can be as treacherous as the Indianapolis 500.
And God help us if traffic is at a standstill. The language is fouler than the fumes in the air.
Rudeness has many faces.
Lack of manners for Americans is not whether you confuse the salad fork for the dinner fork. It's about the daily assault of selfishness—inconsiderate behavior.
Rudeness can be found in high schools where fierce competitiveness dominates the popularity game and in the workplace where the "kill or be killed" philosophy, once the underbelly of ambition, is now the standard.
Insolence is like a cancer. Simply put, it is a question of sides.
Some favor a well-mannered society and will stifle their rudeness. The others are the conspirators in the quickening demise of civility and respect.
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