Code Of Conduct

At the junior high where I worked, the cafeteria is left littered with mounds of garbage, despite the presence of numerous trash cans. Kids still losing baby teeth publicly sass adults to their faces. And forget about walking in a straight line if you’re an adult, even a very pregnant one. I learned this lesson the first time I assumed that the traffic pattern would yield to the approach of an elder (the way I was taught it should), and almost ended up on my duff from an aggressive shoulder-check. You might say there are always a few bad eggs in every generation, but this is something different. This is pervasive in a way we would have found dumb-founding at their age. An epidemic of rudeness. It mystifies me all the time. I grew up in a house where codes of social conduct were specifically laid out and strictly enforced. Children are seen but not heard when adults are gathered. Every adult is addressed by “Mr.,” “Mrs.,” or “Miss” preceding their last name, or, in rare cases, their first name. Youth gives seating, the spotlight, respect, and the right of way to age. No exceptions. If my father saw me behaving the way these kids do now, even at forty-three years old, I would be on the unfortunate end of an attitude adjustment. And I would deserve it. In the Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners, the bear family learns to clean up their act. I wonder if they give workshops.

http://www.amazon.com/Berenstain-Bears-Forget-Their-Manners/dp/0394873335

http://www.berenstainbears.com/sjbio.html