I need to get something off my chest.
It takes a lot for me to lose my cool. Besides the obvious examples of mistreatment of animals, children, the disabled, and the elderly, one of the things that boils my blood is rudeness. I despise rudeness. Specifically, I am fucking sick and tired of the lack of manners and gratitude among youngsters nowadays. This is a sentiment I have held for over a decade, around the time I became an adult, but only in the past month or so has it gone from a simple sentiment to an expectation for which I hold very little hope for the paradigm to ever turn around.
The three most recent examples:-
1. Two weeks ago, I was heading back home after doing some shopping. On my way down the alleyway, I noticed a boy and a girl of about thirteen heading in my direction. They were taking up more space, but whatever; I felt the right thing to do was back up against the fence to allow them to pass, which I did. Did they thank me? Did they give a little nod? A wave? A thumbs up? Did they balls. Nothing
2. Last week, on my way to the park with my dog, I was approaching the bridge that leads to the road the park is on. During my approach, I noticed a young woman of about twenty halfway down the bridge, heading in our direction. It's quite a narrow bridge, albeit a long one, so I decided to stand to the side of the opening to allow her to pass as easily as possible, which she saw me do. Twenty seconds later, she stepped off the bridge without so much as acknowledging my presence and carried on, with such a look of indifference on her face. "Right, I'll let that one slide this time," I thought to myself
3. Yesterday evening, I was on my way back from the park with my dog. We exited the park, crossed the road, and headed in the direction of home. About five seconds after crossing the road, who turned the corner and started heading in our direction? The same woman from #2. "Hmm," I thought to myself. As we got closer and closer, I realised there was gonna be a bit of a kerfuffle due to the massive tree on the approach between us, so I stepped into a driveway and gave her the signal to head past me. Again, she just walked past without so much as a nod, but she had that exact same facial expression as before
The entitlement. The arrogance. The lack of self-awareness. The lack of gratitude. The rudeness.
Is it so fucking hard to take the not-even-a-second to say "thank you"? To nod? To give a wave or thumbs up? Good manners are the bedrock of human decency, in my book; without them, I automatically lose respect for the respective person on the spot. "Thank you"; "Yes, please"; "No thank you"; and so on - things we learned as children - is it really so difficult?!
If a person cannot show even a shred of gratitude for a courtesy, then where else are they fucking up in their lives? I despair for them, I really do. The fact the two most recently examples involve the same person is really bugging me. I am considering just walking straight on, acting as if she doesn't even exist, in the middle of the pavement the next time I see her. But then what does that make me? Would it slap her in the face with a bit of reality or will I become the very thing I despise? Urgh.
Or am I just taking this way too seriously?