Common F*cking Courtesy

I’m about to go off on a tangent. And I’ll probably swear some more. If you don’t like either of those things you should probably move along.

I was in a hurry this morning. I needed to drop the little guy off at school in order to meet the individual who was going to be shadowing me all day. (Those of you in sales know what a pain in the ass it is when this happens; it can throw your day just slightly off and add a degree of stress.) Of course, there is a line to drop off even though it is early. There is an entire driveway in front of the school in the shape of a semi-circle but do you think people pull all the way forward to drop their kids off? Hell no!! They pull in ten damn feet and park. Far be it from little Dick or Jane to walk an extra five f*cking feet to the door.

So there is a line where there doesn’t need to be a line, along with the most inconsiderate bitch who has decided she can’t wait in this line and has thrown her car in part with her entire backside still in the street. I mean, who cares if the rest of Houston has to wait on her lazy ass. She has literally put her car in park, has the trunk open and is unloading what looks like their entire house. By this time the line is moving but the dipshit at the front of the line won’t turn because lazy bitch has her car in park, half in the street. Finally the pickup in front of me pulls around and turns. I breathe a sigh of relief that he has the brains to pull through the drive. Oops! Spoke too soon. This jackass pulls between two lines of parked cars in the driveway and stops his car right in front of door to the school, parking at a perfect angle so that NO ONE can get by. I am now in awe. My mouth is literally hanging open. I finally get by and do the courteous thing: I PULL ALL THE WAY FORWARD to the end of the drive. And guess what? My little guy had no issue with running to the door. He’s a kid. He loves to run and walk.

Society’s egomania is everywhere. I don’t dare turn on my blinker early in traffic. People don’t slow down to let you in, they speed up to cut you off. When I fill up my car at Costco they post a sign “Please pull forward.” Why do they need to post this? Isn’t that just common sense? The other day at a Shell station I pulled up to the pump at the exact same time as another man. I smiled at him thinking he would wave me through. He had the bigger car and he just kept easing his huge Suburban closer and closer to my car. Seriously?? As I pulled around to the other side of the station it happened again. This time the gentleman rolled down his window to tell me, “You go ahead, ma’am.” Thankfully chivalry isn’t completely dead.

What has happened to our society? When did people become so narcissistic and rude? When did they stop caring about anyone except themselves? Many people have written articles and books saying that we are in a “Narcissism Epidemic” and I believe them. A recent article commented:

Whether through fate, circumstances or moral imperative, our culture kept hubris in check. Now, we encourage it. Pastors preach of a Jesus that wants us to be rich. The famously egocentric wide receiver Terrell Owens declares at a press conference that being labeled selfish is fine with him. Donald Trump names everything he owns after himself and calls his detractors “losers.” We live in a world where everyone can be a star—if only on YouTube. The general sense among students on that New Haven campus is that with the world being such a competitive, cutthroat place, they have to be narcissists. Well, you may need a supersize ego to win “America’s Next Top Model” or to justify your multimillion dollar bonus. But last I checked, most of our lives don’t require all that attitude. Treating the whole world as if it works for you doesn’t suggest you’re special, it means you’re an ass. As an antidote to a skyrocketing self-worth, [the author] recommends humility, evaluating yourself more accurately, mindfulness and putting others first. Such values may seem quaint, maybe even self-defeating, to those of us who think we’re special, but trust me: it gets easier with practice.

Please don’t be an ass. Evaluate yourself and your actions, be mindful, and put others first.

Still Rockin’ It
Scarlet Mom