What’s Wrong With You People!?

There’s a lot out there that drives us crazy. Have you picked up on it?

Well, you should. From the way we treat our planet to the way we treat each other. The waste bin that a litterer doesn’t bother to make a short trip to. The jerk who doesn’t hold the elevator for you as you carry grocery bags up the steps. What’s to blame for this behavior? Is it a new thing? Certainly humanity has a long history of cruelty, and environmental conservation is undoubtedly a 20th century phenomenon.. But face to face rudeness?

Let’s face it, many of us don’t know our neighbors. Not their names, nor their professions, zip.. We’ve bubbled ourselves in from our natural communities to find refuge in digital ones. Why talk to the guy next door who is into god-knows what when I can participate in this message board of true Beliebers? Uh-oh, the local bookstore doesn’t have the new spin-off of 50 Shades of Grey. Better head to Barnes & Noble. We’ve sold our sense of community for an electronic avatar and a more convenient place to rent movies. (What’s that? Blockbusters drove out all the Mom & Pop video stores from my area? And now you say Blockbuster itself is closing so I can’t rent my movies at any physical store anymore?)

But maybe I’m naive. Being rude to somebodies face is new? Get a grip, adrian. Consider African Americans in the south prior to the Civil Rights movement. Or the treatment of women before suffrage (and even after!). No, we’ve always had segments of our society that have been deplorable. But the focus shouldn’t be whether we’re as terrible now as we’ve always been, or even whether we might be slightly less terrible today. The focus should be on how to build a more civil society, with compassionate citizens interested in their fellow countrymen. Sound quaint? Maybe it is. Maybe it’s impossible. It may be a lot of things, but I know one thing it it certainly is. It’s something that should drive us all a little crazy.