Have good manners gone the way of the Dodo?

I'm going to digress a bit today because I'm feeling like I need to expound on something that has been weighing on me for a while now. If you guys don't want to read ahead that's ok, I understand, and I will just tell you that tomorrow I promise to return to the crafting. In fact, I have a new wreath to show off, but I would dearly love to have this one day to step up onto my soap box. :)

I really have no idea how to start this rant other than to jump in with both feet into the puddle. What the crap is wrong with our society where our sense of self-righteous entitlement is overriding the practice of having good manners and actually displaying and using them, oh and not to mention consideration. And since when did having good manners become gauche? Le sigh.....Ok so those two sentences felt really good to put out there.
So let me give you a vague rehashing of why this issue has been on my mind, its actually several vague incidents, but here's the first. If you maliciously lie to anyone, no matter your reasons or the reasons you tell yourself to justify your actions, then its wrong. If you have to justify your actions then its probably not something you should be doing. Doing the right thing is not something that requires a 2nd thought or reflection. Granted, there are times where there is no clear 'right' choice but rather the choice between two evils, and as such justification is certainly warranted, but decisions such as those are never easy. Nor should they be, because there is quite often much thought and reflection required for those decisions, and as human beings there is no shortage of second-guessing and doubt that will appear, and thats before you discuss it with anyone. That would be the conversation you have with yourself. Sheesh.

Have you ever lost anything? Of course you have. We all have. Have you ever seen something while out and about that you know someone just lost? Did you pick it up and take it too customer service or did you walk on by and merely comment, "Oh look someone lost something." Which person are you? Are you the person that picks it up and returns it or are you the person that notices it and then walks on? I'll tell you what I am....I'm the person that picks it up and takes it to the appropriate area so that its owner may then find it, because that's what I would want someone to do for me. When did 'do unto others as you have done unto you' become taboo? Have we really sunk so low and become so self-absorbed that we can't help a fellow man? Maybe its the area I live in? I dunno? Maybe its just the stores I happen to frequent? You know, cause Target and Wegman's are totally ego-manic epicenters. Le sigh. I will continue to treat others as I would like to be treated, because that's how I would like to be treated.

I don't pretend to be a saint, but I do try to be a good person. I will not pretend that I don't mouth off and get pissed off every once and again, because I will. I will also apologize for being wrong and for hurting your feelings. I may not apologize for what I said, but often I will apologize for how I say it. If someone has a problem with me I would much rather they talk to me about it rather than suffering through it. Why does it seem that society has become so preoccupied with being PC and not offending anyone that they will drag out being miserable with something? Why is it wrong for us to talk about whatever may be bothering us? Because it might be unpleasant? Why do we expect life to be all roses and ponies? Sometimes we have to do unpleasant things because its the right thing to do, even though we'd love to be doing any of million and one other things, including but not limited too having a root canal. Wow.....I think I just circled back to my first point. I hate when I do that. ;-)

I was always told to help those in need. I don't know about everyone else, but I can't walk by someone who is in obvious distress and not at least check to make sure they're alright. Like you know, when stuff falls off a cart or out of a shopping bag in the middle of a bottleneck in a busy store, and while the person is busily trying to pick everything up from the middle of the bottleneck you have to get by with your two children and not even bother to ask if the person needs help or anything like that, but instead you just say 'excuse me' while you squeeze by the packages and the person kneeling to pick everything up. Oh and your two children. Cause that's a great example to set. Meanwhile, the poor person on the floor is just left to say 'I'm sorry' and try and get of the way for the three of you. I'm sure that three of you were inconvenienced by having to wait the 30 or 40 seconds it would have taken to wait, or god forbid the 20 or 30 seconds it would have taken to pick everything up if you had helped, but you know....I'm sure that the spilling of the purchases onto the floor was totally convenient for the poor person who had them spill from their cart. Le sigh.

I have decided that in order to right these wrongs as I see them that I'm going to teach my boys, to the best of my ability, to respect themselves and their fellow man and to always practice good manners despite anything that may happen. You can always hold your head high if you've done the right thing, and you can always feel good in knowing that you did something nice for someone else and maybe, just maybe that it made them smile and feel reassured about society, because I sure as shoot know that whenever someone does something nice for me I be sure to tell them and thank them for it. Lavishly even, because it does not happen enough and for the person who bestowed their kindness on me I want them to know that I truly appreciate them practicing their good manners.

Thanks for letting me rant today! I'll be back to normal tomorrow. :)