I Want My 1950's Back!

Do manners still exist?  Is there such a thing as common courtesy anymore?  And what in the world ever happened to kindness and understanding?  Sadly, I find myself asking these questions almost daily.

Ugh......

I will be the first to admit that I falter when it comes to the kindness and understanding bit.  It seems our current society has made me just a little jaded.  Ok, maybe a LOT jaded.  People are not what they seem and I've got no time to deal with bullshit.  So let's just say that my overall "kindness, patience and understanding" has taken a big nosedive in recent years.  Sad but true.

But can we just talk for a moment on COMMON COURTESY and straight up basic MANNERS?  This one has most definitely gone by the wayside.  Adults, who I might add were raised in a different time than we are living in now, seem to have forgotten all about this concept.  Umm...these people should totally know better!  And children? Good Lord but they have no clue.  None.  

So manners, common courtesy, kindness, patience, understanding- what happened here?  What's missing from our current world?

• Please and Thank You stopped being THE MAGIC WORDS.  Unless you're the parent of a young child, you probably don't use or ask for these magic words anymore.  Seriously- stop and think about this a moment.  When you order your Starbucks, do you personally use the magic words?  When you speak to your waitress, do you make sure to say Please and Thank You?  When you ask something of a friend or need a favor from a family member, do you show them the courtesy of a Please and a Thank You?  Every time?  Well, do you?
• We've emasculated men.  Yeah, I said it.  Men are afraid to hold open doors, they worry about who should pay on a date, they struggle with showing gentlemanly behavior not knowing how women will react.  Not to mention, we joke about them and say some really awful shit about men in general, yet loose our fucking business if the tables are ever turned.  Totally not cool.
• We don't know our neighbors anymore.  Listen, we've moved like 6 times in 10 years and we've had LOTS of neighbors.  Of all the homes and neighborhoods we've lived in, only 2 people have ever brought over a welcome gift and introduced themselves.  TWO.
• We are nose deep in electronics instead of being present.  This one really bugs me.  I don't mind having the phone nearby in case someone texts me or my husband calls.  But when I'm with someone LIVE and IN PERSON, I am with them.  I'm not surfing Facebook or playing Candy Crush the entire time.  So rude.
• We worship false prophets.  Well not to get all Biblical on you here but have you seen the people our society admires?  I mean...have you?!?  Ick.  And that's not even discussing religion or politics because GOODNESS this is just way too depressing to even think about.  These are the people who represent us?!?  Holy fuck.  Just no.
• People call or text after 10PM and before 8AM.  Ummm....HELLO?!?  What in the actual fuck is happening here?  Never, ever would this have ever happened 20 years ago.  It's simply not acceptable and I don't understand why people think it is.  Could you imagine calling Grandma at 10:30 at night?  You better be dead or your house on fire mmkay...
• We speak our thoughts.  Well goodness but I'm guilty of this one with a capital "G" but so is everyone else on this planet.  We think it and so many times we go ahead and say it.  And it's only gotten worse with this magical land known as Social Media.  It's as if we think we can hide behind the screen, say all the shit we want, and there won't be any consequences.  Ummm....you do know that people can see this, right?
  
• Selfishness is out of control.  We have become a society of ME, ME, ME and somewhere along the way we stopped thinking of how our actions would affect others.  So many people looking out for #1 and not enough looking out for their fellow man.  Can you tell?
• Women are looked down on for being JUST a housewife or JUST a Mom.  Ugh.  Fifty years ago this was the HOLY GRAIL for us ladies and yet now it's become a source of ridicule.  Isn't feminism supposed to support women in whatever they want to do?  Oh yeah, that....
• Children are pushed to embrace a gender neutral life.  Listen, I don't give a shit if my son wants to play with dolls or your daughter loves the monster trucks.  Who cares?  But why is our society so insistent on MAKING it this way?  Why can't we just allow our children to be themselves without directing them one way or the other? We are quite literally raising a generation of confused nincompoops who have no clue who they are and what they want to do with themselves.
• We've built bigger houses on smaller lots.  Say what now?  Well exactly this- we embraced our inner greed and have built huge fucking McMansions that are literally touching distance from our neighbors.  How in the ever loving world can we be good neighbors to each other when we can touch our house and their house at the same fucking time?  We can't.  
• Marriage is no longer sacred.  It used to be that growing up you had that one friend who's parents were divorced.  Now, you have that one friend who's parents are actually still married.  What the hell has happened here?  I triple dog dare you to name five people you know who are in their mid 30's or higher and still on marriage #1.  Go ahead....I'll wait.
  
• We forgot THE GOLDEN RULE.  Well if you have to Google exactly what this is- I'm guessing you're one of the many who is guilty of this crime.  The golden rule is simply to treat other's the way you want to be treated.  Period.
• We don't appreciate rituals and traditions of the past.  Children now lack a clear understanding of HOW things are supposed to work.  They don't know that you should send a Get Well card when a family member is ill or that you make a casserole for a grieving widow.  These once common practices are pretty much gone.  
• The concept of family has changed over time.  I am the first to say that family is NOT about blood but about the people who are by your side when you need it the most.  You make your family.  But- what about those pesky people who are related to you by blood?  Why do we not see them anymore?  Why do we not go out of our way to consider them?  Whatever happened to simply showing them love and understanding?  Ugh.  Family is hard y'all.

I'm going to be straight up honest with you all- this current society that we are living in and attempting to raise our children up in, well it just fucking sucks.  The husband and I are not at all happy about the way we see our world going and all the "change" we see happening.  Yes, absolutely there have been some great things to happen- like women getting to vote and no more segregation.  Yes, a million times yes.  But it simply feels that for every actual and REAL step forward our society has taken 10 leaps backwards.

Or perhaps its just that the husband and I are old souls.  I can tell you that we both feel like we are living in the wrong time.  Can we just go back a few years to when people actually gave a shit about others and understood the importance of manners and common courtesy?  Can we please?