Thursday, March 26, 2009

Consideration

Get ready for a rant!

This is just my observation but we have failed our children or someone has failed to teach consideration and courtesy. Time and time again I have been faced with inconsiderate people. In the grocery store people will stand in the middle of the aisle looking at the shelves oblivious of anyone waiting to get through. I've had to flat out turn around and go the other way or loudly say, "excuse me." They either move very nicely or they will move just barely enough for me to pass. I don't get it. Even when I pass in front of a shopper that is out of the way and is looking at the other side of the aisle I will say, "excuse me" as pass in between them and the aisle. It is called courtesy.

Yesterday I was faced with the inconsiderate way of hogging a space on an off ramp on the BA Expressway at the Sheridan exit. The lane is divided to go left or right, but this idiot guy in a Lexus was right in the middle of the two lanes. This was at the first of the off ramp and it was backing traffic up onto the expressway. No one could go around him and he continued almost to the light to stay in the middle of the lane. He had plenty of room to move but he didn't. Did he not look in his rear view mirror and see what a mess he was leaving. I mean really, what an idiot!

People, teach courtesy and manners please. Teach your children to say excuse me. Teach them to be aware of the people around them so that they can be courteous in the grocery store aisles. Teach them to re-hang the clothes they try on in the dressing rooms, zip the zippers and button the buttons. Teach them that it is not polite to run around or crawl under the table at the restaurant while other people are dining. Teach them that other people's credit cards on tables are not to be taken. Teach them not to hover over the tops of the booths, dribbling food or drool on neighboring diners. If they do not learn courtesy and consideration in their young ages then we are stuck with the inconsiderate boobs in the grocery store or the off ramps on the BA Expressway. If children butt in line at the drinking fountain in elementary school then they will butt in line at the movie theatre as adults, they don't think of others. Take control of your children. Teach them to say please and thank you and be aware of others as we all have to live on this earth together and it is getting a little too crowded to be nasty.

The television programming is not helping our society. Look what is on VH1 lately. Rock of Love, I Love Money, Charm School, or Tool Academy just to name a few. Fighting, cursing, name-calling, just nastiness. A lot of the shows on TV in general have moments of disgust but we are drawn to them, I'm no exception. America's Next Top Model, Celebrity Apprentice, Survivor, Hell's Kitchen, they all have cursing and name calling and disrespect for other people. Are these role models that we want our children to identify with? I say absolutely not. I have to admit I'm a reality show addict and watch these shows but they do go too far, I am an adult though and have been taught that these behaviors are not right. Young people are so impressionable and many are not taught that those behaviors are not acceptable. Spitting, cursing, hitting, disrespect, those are what our young impressionable children are learning on TV. A lot of the children in the US are not supervised and guided, they are left to learn about life and the world on TV. Take a stand people and teach your children consideration, love of people, courtesy.

I am stepping down off of my soap box now. I'm sorry for the rant. It has been building for a bit so I was on a roll.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I tell my kids two of the most important words you can say other than "I love you" and "I am sorry" are "Excuse me" and "Thank you"

What a great post Jill.

Char said...

I so completely agree

Kathryn Magendie said...

My momma taught us manners - and I passed them on to my son....

There are days I wonder "who's your mommma and what'd she teach you?"

roy/elisabeth dean said...

I agree 100% about teaching children common courtesy....it seems to be a thing of the past now. I actually have one friend who asks that my daughter spend the night with her daughter more often so that she can teach her some manners. HELLO???? Shouldn't the MOTHER be teaching the manners!
Ooops, sorry, I didn't mean to get on MY soapbox, I just wanted to thank you for stopping by my blog and registering for my Clinique giveaway. Check back again...I'll have giveaways every week!
Good luck to you~
♥,Lilly

Kay said...

I sure do agree with you. I have run into a few people that I have actually had to explain manners to. I used to teach manners to my 1st graders every year.

Anonymous said...

That is why I hate those reality shows. As a young adolescent I grew up watching The Real World... but thankfully I was somehow able to figure out how stupid they all were. Now I don't watch any reality TV. Hell, I hardly watch TV at all.

amuse me said...

Good morning - I came by way of syn-chro-ni-zing -- and I so loved this rant. It is all the things I would love to say to inconsiderate people but tend to keep my mouth closed. You said it so succinctly. I'm in Michigan and I also loved your weather post. We were supposed to get "dumped on" with snow today, doom and gloom, but so far it is just wet. I tend not to believe the weather people anymore.