Does America need a time-out?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/10/29/o.need.time.out.america/index.html



Rudeness isn't contagious -- but we all may be carrying the virus. Has rudeness become a chronic condition?

I was in the Amtrak Quiet Car last weekend. The "Quiet Car," as the conductor pithily put it, means, "No cell phones, no fun!"

Twenty minutes into our blissfully silent journey, this woman behind me makes a call. She was speaking in French, and I sort of wanted to use her transgression as a way to test what's left of my French skills.

But the most primal part of me wanted to grab her phone, just as Kanye West snatched Taylor Swift's mic; I wanted to threaten to shove it down her throat, just as Serena Williams threatened the line judge with a tennis ball; and I wanted to yell j'accuse! in the same Southern cadence of Joe Wilson's bug-eyed, "You lie!"

*

Remember Quiet Car Lady? Well, a gentleman pointed to a sign that read "QUIET CAR. NO CELL PHONES." This was more productive than my passive-aggressive stare. Madame ended her call (something about Michel going to le plage and la plume de ma tante? I really have to bone up on my French...) and immediately said: "No cell phone? I'm sorry...I did not know."

Pop! My self-righteous bubble burst. I was so glad I hadn't been ruder, more imperious. She was human; she was sorry.

"Love may fail, but courtesy shall prevail"

Being courteous is being strong.

unaware.

patience, kindness, knowledge we jump to conclusions, understanding most of us are considerate, a smile.... works wonders.

and that was courteous.....

It's harder and harder these days to not react angrily to whatever stimuli annoys us. I blame Cable News, or The McLaughlin Group........

maybe we all feed off each other. maybe it has become the norm. seems to be so little patience with one another

possible and still effective, before escalating. Saves energy, and there is only limited amount of drama in the world; we shouldn't use it all up at once.

Just the same I had a vision of you gabbling in pidgeon french gargling a tennis ball snatching miss thing's phone balanced on one leg on the seat back, pinwheeling arms eyeballs bulging screaming "you lie!!!!" in the highest falsetto possible.

:P

just not a big deal.

ever been to china? Or italy? Unfortunately rudeness experienced in other countries is often written off as being a cultural thing. But here it is used as proof that people are just jerks.

And it isn't even uniform. Americans in New York city act very different from those in rural Montana.

that we are becoming more rude with each other than in the past.

about every current generation since time immemorial.

may have one on us adults. i think that they adults are the ones that are becoming angier, more rude, uglier.

now i am sure the youth will catch up to us... as they are conditioned to respond in like manner

taught me to be kinder to strangers. I smile and I'm polite and say thank you a lot more and I've noticed that people are very responsive when I'm trying to be pleasant. People smile back.

I think people now are responding to what they're receiving from others at any given time. If they encounter rudeness they're much more likely to say something back, and they are much more likely to respond to kindness with kindness.

but i agree, that reception of nice is welcomed by all.