Stepping up and Punking out

It has taken me almost 2 weeks to come up with something "profound." This profound thing is getting really hard. Just kidding. Not really. It has taken me 2 weeks to get the time to actually sit down and write something. ;-)

Here goes...Don’t mean to go all Wilford Brimley on your ass, but seriously people. Where the H did people’s manners go?

It seems everyone is so worried about numero uno. Compassion for others only comes out when the Red Cross makes it ‘easy’ for us. We can’t be bothered to let the older person go ahead of us at the Walmart check out. God forbid we sacrifice 5 minutes of our time for someone that might have less time than we do. I would like to know where the words please and thank you went. Why don’t people open doors for each other? Why do we feel it is our inalienable right to be the first one to get anything every where?

I think we excused manners from the preverbal table when technology came a calling. I am all for progress and change. I embrace edgy and provocative, but seriously dude… Technology has given us many things, but has technology made us boorish?

Have we been given the tools to propagate selfishness, rudeness, and sloth? Wasn’t life simpler before we had answering machines? I remember, not too long ago, if you called someone and they didn’t answer, you didn’t talk to them. Wow, what a concept. The idea you can’t talk to the person YOU want to talk to when YOU want to talk to them. YOU. YOU. YOU. Hmmm.

We have a responsibility to ourselves, sure. I agree. But I think we have a larger responsibility to make this world we live in better. Recycling. Organic food. Paper vs. plastic. Energy efficient cars. Carpooling. Sure those are all great, but they are all things we can buy or do. What about who we are? Compassionate, empathetic, honest, and respectful.

I think we owe it to ourselves. Seriously man. The more uptight everyone is about themselves and what they deserve; it only makes it harder to be happy. Try to take a step back and look at yesterday, how many times in your day were you thinking, “God, if that person doesn’t…” or “I wish this idiot would…” or better yet “I am gonna go ballistic if…” I can guarantee you the idiot didn’t do what you wanted him to do. Also, I bet your sense of urgency heighten every time you looked at your phone. Life was not passing you by because the other guy didn’t do what you wanted them to do when you wanted them to do it.

Not to blurr the lines even further by making a movie reference, but maybe Dirty Harry was onto something when he challenged… “Do you feel lucky punk? Well, do ya?” I am going to challenge myself to practice what I preach. I am going to start stepping up and stop punking out.