Call me Joe Cool!

If you're of my particular generation, you grew up enjoying Peanuts cartoons, the brainchild of Charles Schultz. My testosterone-soaked, adolescent brain latched onto a series of strips surrounding Snoopy adopting the persona of Joe Cool, leather jacket and sunglass to boot,  with his chosen hangout by the school water fountain. I still have vivid recall of those strips ... Wow, I'm old!

My personal opinion of what's cool, however, has changed over time, especially in the past 10-15 years ... hence the graphic. During the course of investigating the crap-show that occurred on Washington's Capital Hill on Jan 6th, I stumbled across the graphic, and it struck a chord with me. it is my own candid observation that the possession and utilization of good manners is an endangered skillset rampant in society. And it appears to me that it's getting worse.

Let me make one thing abundantly clear, I am not a fan of Mr Trump. Those who have hitched their cart to him irritate me even more than he does because I firmly believe he has a mental condition that makes him behave like the complete Jackass he is, but his supporters, like the ones storming the Capitol, CHOOSE to act the way they do. Their complete and utter lack of decency, morals, and values on full displayed during the occupation give me great pause about the future.

I have huge respect for the parenting effort my mom and dad put in with my four brothers and I because all four of us, while vastly different in our likes and dislikes, are all pretty gosh-darned cool, at least by the graphic's standards. Joyce and I have endeavoured to pass those habits on to our own children, and I'll proudly attest that we have been quite successful. As I review the points, it becomes quickly apparent that these are habits ... because they are definitely developed through practice ... that are wanting in the general public, at least IMHO. 

Nary a day goes by that I don't make a comment to Joyce about someone we encounter, or identify a situation we observe, where one or more of these habits is lacking.

In these times, I only occasionally venture out of the house, mostly to restock the cabinets or fridge, and once I've gathered what is on my list, I join the queue at the checkout. I am invariably greeted by a young person ... sometimes enthusiastically, sometimes not ... who usually executes the job with precision and speed. Even if I feel precision and speed were lacking, I always look them straight in the eye and comment, "Thanks very much for your help today." 9 times out of 10, the response is one of either suspicion or disbelief, like they're not sure if my motives are sincere. If I'm particularly impressed with their effort, I'll add in a compliment about something specific, perhaps their incredible recall of stock numbers when ringing in vegetables or such. It takes very little time or effort on my part and most assuredly checks off #1 on the list, albeit with a little flair, if I do say so myself.

From my rocking chair, I feel strongly that this steady decline in basic decency has spread exponentially of late. I can easily identify multiple transgressions of compassion or empathy, some minor but some major, that are symptoms of the unchecked spread. 

Here's a few personal examples, in no particular order of irritation:

1. You're driving along and decide that a right hand turn is in order. You signal and execute the job with precision, taking care to turn into the right hand lane, as outlined in Driver's Ed 101. The clown behind you goes 2 or 3 lanes wide and stands on the gas so he/she can gain a few seconds, usually looking your way with a scowl. Seriously? Uber high on my personal Pet Peeve list is when this happens on an on-ramp for the highway, except the clown behind pulls out immediately without getting up to speed with traffic, and cuts off your own merge.
2. You're grabbing supplies at the grocery of your choice, mask in place and social distancing appropriate for a pandemic. You're examining a particular item with the intent to buy the best choice from the selection on the shelf in front of you when some clown barges right into your personal bubble to grab an item then looks down their improperly masked nose at you with disdain as if to say, "Let's go Grandpa!"
3. You're going into the bank because, even in these times, you need to have a little bit of cash on hand. As you walk up to the doors, the reflection in front of you indicates a young woman coming up behind you. Being raised properly, you seize the handle and open the door, sidling sideways to allow her to enter first, with all sense of chivalry and deportment. She looks like at you she's smelling a ripe fart and grunts, "I'm perfectly capable of opening my own door!" It's everything you can do not to slam the dang door on her as she proceeds to take advantage of your generosity, despite her objection, but manners win out and you continue to hold the door anyway.
4. You and your significant other decide that the glorious sunshine and temperatures are too good to waste and you bundle up to get a vigorous winter walk in together. Despite the cool air, you enjoy communing with the outdoors until you are confronted with a large, sometimes steaming, pile of pet waste directly in the middle of the pathway. You know that whomever was walking their pet could not have missed the dirty deed, leaving callousness as the only possible explanation. On a related note, sometimes the steaming pile is dutifully bagged but them flung on to a lawn (hopefully not yours) or some unlikely perch ... I've seen them on top of mailboxes, stuck in trees, on the hoods of vehicles ... so incredibly LAZY and RUDE!
5. I've developed a night time routine where I lock the doors, double check that the truck is locked, shut the blinds, turn down the heat and make sure the leftovers are stowed away in the fridge. Yes, my OCD compels me to repeat this performance nightly, but it was also born out of the regular rounds of a roving band of human flotsam that canvass the entire neighbourhood on a nightly basis looking to score with an unlocked vehicle. The FB group we are apart of for our ward regularly reports occurrences of thefts, and despite submitting video proof to the local constabulary, continues unabated. Woe to anyone that mistakenly forgets to lock something up, down, or in.    

If you're able to associate with any of what I've written, I am sure that you have many, many more examples of what I'm pointing out. 

Is this a symptom of the disintegration of society? 

Of the collapse of decency? 

Of our decent into anarchy? 

I don't have a quality answer for you, but I do know that it causes me anguish to think that we're helpless to change it. 

I'll promise to keep doing what I can. 

Are you willing to help?

Maybe if we all try a little harder it will get better.

Something to think about.