For those that watch football, it is quite obvious that number 69 for UVA football should be arrested after the game and placed in prison. With an injured player on the field, after a play had ended, the UVA player tried purposefully to destroy the future of a Boston College player by throwing his entire weight at the BC players knee. Abominable. When this happened in skating people went to prison. Will it happen here? No.
While in concert the Stones have to leave the stage for an hour because of a bomb threat at UVA. Will they ever catch the culprit. No.
At the gym this morning a typical Charlottesville resident walks right up to one of the TV sets and just begins to flip through channels without asking any of the other people if they were watching that set. After a twenty minute workout he leaves the machine and doesn’t bother to sterilize it after use. Does he care that his germs could spread to others? No.
The friendliness of the village.
I think when life used to be harder (think pretty much any generation before ours) people had to learn virtues and had to be polite. They learned life lessons, humility, sacrifice, responsibility, compassion, honesty, self-discipline, and so on. Today, they go to business school where they cheat on exams and professors are afraid to fail them. They learn how to take advantage of others so they can profit. They never grow up, they remain selfish children and when they have children they hire someone else to take care of them. And, the cycle goes on.
If that’s the way future generations are going to behave, and no one is going to check them on it - it gives you an idea of why the rest of the world thinks we’re assholes!
…and some of them become politicians!
I do agree that common courtesy seems to be rarely taught - when I have had doubts about my being a good mother - I remember what my mother taught us – please - thank you - excuse me. I then taught my children the same thing - in turn I have discovered with a certain amount of joy - that my grandchildren say please - thank you - excuse me - I have seen them help my neighbours pull weeds and bring in groceries, etc. Just being respectful. - It is a neat thing to observe kindness.
Unfortunatly - teaching respect/being respectful is apparently not an IN thing to do - lowering the standards for entrance into colleges - moving kids thru high school and into college when they’re illiterate. Giving scholarships to play football, etc.and not be able to read - having others take tests for them - coachs giving them steroids - many reasons - all in the name of profit as JJ said.
I would like to think that there is hope ‘they’ will ‘get’ it and actually teach the future generation proper values - starting with showing/living by example. May be then the world can see we really are not all ASSHOLES… I’m sad to say I do not hold out much hope…
So I remember my father telling me how the world is going to hell. Parents don’t stay home with the kids, work their jobs just so they can [consume] more and more things. I used to think he was just getting old. Now that I feel like I am getting old, I’m starting to think many of the same things. Is it just that I am becoming my fathers son, or just getting older [wiser?].
When I heard those things, I thought that he just didn’t get it. He was “old” and looking back at a past that could not be relived, because it was the past.
I agree with many of the same things you guys have posted. Have you seen those commercials about “bad customer service”? The grocery bagger that rams things into the bags? and so on. What makes it so funny is that there is a good deal of truth in the lack of basic customer service today. And I suppose you can extend that to common courtesy as well.
So are we saying that everything is going to hell in the handbasket? I’ll throw out the question, “has every generation thought the same thing about the next generation?”
I think you have to have some faith in those people that will be taking care of us when we are all in the “home”. I hope they are nice.
Remember, and I see this everyday at work, when things work as they are supposed to, or someone does something right - we expect it. When something “bad” happens, or you have a bad experience, you tell your friends. You notice it. “damn! I had bad service today. Did you hear how he talked to me? What the hell, they could do better!” When was the last time you recognized the outstanding, or even just OK service, or any interaction you may have had? It’s all to easy to rant and rave about the bad, it’s harder to celebrate the good. It’s human nature. The bad stuff just makes a better story.
I’m just looking forward to good (hopefully excellent) sponge baths when I’m in the “home”.
“This generation is going to the dogs” [to para-phrase]. statement made by Socrates - to answer your question. So yes - every generation makes similar staements - but this lack of respect seems to be more contagious than every before - IMHO -
Many parents are working - just to have the basic necessities for their families - not just for having MORE things.
FYI - I have of course kavetched about bad service - but by the same token - I have made a point of calling attention to people when they have done something above and beyond - or even simple kindnesses. Putting myself in their shoes helps. I just feel good to know when I am appreciated - and I imagine that others do too.
I realise that I cannot affect change things in Iraq or China or Brasil or ??? I can however affect those around me - hopefully - they will pass it around to others - they in turn will also pass it around - eventually it can affect everyone - etc and so forth.
…and so it goes.
Oh look. Now you’re the expert on what a “typical” Charlottesville resident is. You, who have… how many months of experience living here? Just go home already. We have enough problems with the people who move here uninvited and do want to live here.
Hey A. I’ve been here for 75 months. I would estimate that is more than the vast majority of locals. I’ve known more than 20 people that have come and gone in my time here. Not one regrets leaving. I know I can’t wait to leave
[...] Both sides paint their enemy as “evil”. This black and white simplification of the real world, makes the message easier to deliver to the masses. The parallels are striking, between the two groups. But, there is much supposition when it comes to ascribing motivation to the so-called neo-cons. It seems, in retrospect, that in the 1970s and 1980s groups made concerted efforts to fabricate reports of hidden submarines and missile gaps. Any scientific methodology would have clearly come to quite different conclusions. It is possible that there were other factors at stake, but the proposition by the filmmaker is that these groups intentionally misled politicians (it was never implied that they were aware of this deception) for the purpose of creating a myth that then, through fear, would unite the American people and turn them back to a more moral and responsible society. I think that is also a myth, though. Nostalgia makes us believe that there was a time when things were simpler and people were virtuous, but that would seldom have been the truth at the time. (See the recent thread on a friends’s website.) [...]
know I can’t wait to leave
Then what keeps you here?