Here are just a few:
- Men wearing baseball caps in restaurants. To me, it's low class, dirty, and offensive. I know, I sound like a 65 year old man...well, I will be 65 in December, so I guess it's okay for me to sound like one! Then, there's the very special breed of low-life, mullet-wearing, redneck, bumpkin, inbreds, who wear their baseball caps backwards, so they can look like official dorks while they gobble their food.
- Talking on cell phones while conducting business. You see it all the time...a customer approaching a clerk or server or whomever, while on the phone and giving that person a minimal amount of attention while trying to conduct business with them. You're not so damned important that you need to be talking to someone every minute of the day. Hang up your phone, stupid, and show some respect for the person who is trying to help you.
- The movement away from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. When I pledge my allegiance to our flag, I'm recognizing that I'm a proud American. I love my country. I fought for my country in...I mean, I was a typist for my country in the Army, in Germany. I feel so blessed to live here and enjoy the freedoms we have. I appreciate those who have given their lives so we can have those freedoms. I'm thinking about all those things, and more, when I recite the Pledge of Allegiance and I'm sort of bonding with those around me, as fellow Americans.
- Different last names/living together. When new neighbors moved in, back in the day, once your heard their last name was Smith, you felt comfortable calling them Mr. and Mrs. Smith, until you learned and were invited to call them by their first names. You knew they were Mr. and Mrs. because they lived together. Now, people live together without the benefit of marriage and use their individual last names or they marry, but the woman keeps her last name or hyphenates his and her last name. Come on, Mr. and Mrs. Smith was so easy. When I was a young boy growing up in San Diego, the lady next door, Mrs. Green, had a series of boyfriends who lived with her over the years (months?). When the first one left and a new boyfriend started hanging around, I told my mother that, "...there is a new Mr. Green next door."
- Respect for Teachers and ones elders. I've always been a class clown and a trouble-maker, but when I got in trouble for disrespecting my teacher, or any of my elders, for that matter, not only did I get in trouble with them, but when my parents found out, I got in trouble at home, as well. The trouble at home was much more severe. There is way too much litigation in America today and a lot of it comes from parents who sue because someone offended their precious little offspring. Because of this, we have a disrespectful bunch of adults, young adults, teenagers, youth, and children, whose parents have trained them to believe they should bear no responsibility for their actions.
5 comments:
Get off my lawn!
Bob- I think I understand and can maybe shed some light on the whole living together thing. Not the different last name thing after marriage - I am still too traditional for that. The living together trend has been growing steadily since the 1980's. If you think about it - it was the 70's and 80's and 90's when the divorce rates were skyrocketing as well. We were seeing our parents, aunts/uncles, and even grandparent's marriages fall apart. The foundations of marriage and family life were shattered, and several generations of kids became VERY disillusioned with the idea of marriage. I know that I did. I didn't want to get married AT ALL! NOT EVER! Life happens and things occur, and I am VERY happy in my marriage, but I can tell you that I cried the day I got married - terrified of what pain was now possible.
I know its the band-aid effect, but the "trial" of living together makes sense to some, because we saw our mothers, and our fathers, devastated by broken marriages, and us and our siblings torn between households and families. Living together does not SOLVE this problem - we all know that - but its less permanent - and in our marriage terrified minds, it makes sense.
I believe that marriage should be the ultimate goal of living together, it seems we are just taking a detour before getting back to the tradition of marriage.
I know this may seem silly, but its how I think and feel about this topic. I know its how many of my friends feel who are also products of generations of broken marriages that were supposed to be "forever". Maybe that's it right there - maybe we don't believe in forever anymore. Or at least it takes a long time for us to begin to see forever in the eyes of our beloved partner. Sad I know....but true me thinks for many.
That's my point, exactly. The traditions are changing. I'm a conservative. The root for that word is conserve. I'm disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change. It takes the tradition termites to affect change. That's why a balance between liberal and conservative is good...as long as the liberal side isn't strong enough to make too many and too radical changes.
I understand - and mostly consider myself a conservative person as well - but I also believe that some change is not only good, but necessary. Some ideas, some preconceived notions, some archaic practices, need to change. We must progress, we must always move in a forward direction and not stagnate - the trick is to to make it a positive direction. Problem is, some will think positive, some will think negative.
It surprises me a bit the increase of cases i have been hearing. I wonder what the court can say about it.
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