Common courtesy, manners, respect sorely lacking when we need them most

It's not often nowadays that I lose my temper. At least not in public, with strangers.

However, as I sit down to write this piece, I am positively boiling. I'm so mad, I can hardly see straight. (Good thing I paid attention in my Grade 10 typing class, so I don't even need to look at the keys. Thanks, Ms. Halliwell.) 

What I'm incensed about is the utter lack of respect I just witnessed.

In this ridiculously topsy-turvy, "slavery sounds like a choice" world, disrespect seems to be spreading faster than The Donald (a.k.a. "The Evel Knievel of Inappropriate Behaviour") can offend a new section of the population.

What happened was this: I was sitting in one of a row of chairs in a public space, idly scanning social media and feeling my brains leaking out of my ears, when I noticed something going on to my left.

Two seats to my left, a young man was quietly scanning his phone. Another young man approached him, got his attention and then ordered him to move over to the seat beside me, which he did. Apparently Mr. Polite wanted to sit with his buddies. 

It took me a few moments to register what had happened. I hesitated to say anything. Perhaps I'd misunderstood the situation. Was Bossy Boots a friend of the young man now seated beside me? Was this just friendly misbehaviour between two acquaintances?

I looked at the boy beside me and asked him if he knew the fellow who had just ordered him out of his chair. He shook his head "no."

An outraged mother bear

If you've never seen a morally outraged mother bear in full-blown shaming mode, it's about as subtle as a Winnipeg Jets whiteout, and far less pleasant. Best just to stand back and stay quiet, or risk losing a digit.

Yes, it was just one silly teenager being rude to another. For me, it was a microcosm of the sort of careless insensitivity that is the blight of our culture nowadays.- Jo Davies

After assuring myself that the young man beside me was not a friend of the other, I asked Bossy Boots what exactly he had done.

I think my precise words were: "Excuse me! Did you just tell him to move so you could sit in his seat?"

B.B. told me he had, and that he just "wanted to sit with my friends."

I informed him that he was not two years old, that he could certainly cope with sitting across from, rather than beside, his buddies, and that he had zero right to order anyone to move, simply on a whim.

I told him that he should apologize to the young man, which he did, but not before looking at me like I had taken leave of my senses.

What happened to manners?

What is wrong with people nowadays? Where in God's name have courtesy and manners and just plain respect for your fellow human being gone?

Aren't we more intimately connected than ever before, thanks to all of our precious social media? Shouldn't that mean we are more likely to act like we're in a Coke commercial (i.e. smile indulgently at our neighbours and high-five them for no particular reason) than in a Donald Glover video?

To be clear: I work at a university. These young people are part of the most educated, privileged, socially aware generation ever to roam this planet. They have been supported and praised and enabled like no other group in history.

Many are unfamiliar with "no," "you lose" and "better luck next time," thanks to the folks who raised them (and yes, I am part of that group).

They've been brought up in a culture where a sense of entitlement and an almost nonexistent sense of shame are the norm, and it saddens me to think that what I saw over the lunch hour is the product of all this nonsense.

I've ranted before that it's crucial to instil in your children a sense of respect, both for themselves and others. Kids need to know that treating others with kindness is not only an option, but the only option.

Our world is hurtling ever faster toward the brink: guns and bombs are doing the talking more than humans, and those in power seem to be talking without thinking at all.

Yes, it was just one silly teenager being rude to another. For me, it was a microcosm of the sort of careless insensitivity that is the blight of our culture nowadays.

From where I sit, it's not a pretty sight.

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