Chatterbox

I have not been able to stop talking this morning.

Maybe it's because it's Monday,

but I'm still not usually this chatty. 

Haha. 

One of the things we have

talked about at length in my office

is... courtesy. 

Where has it gone?

Have parents gotten so busy 

that they've forgotten to teach 

common courtesies to their children?

Example:

Walking on the sidewalk on campus Saturday, 

we passed three fellas (a grandpa, a dad, and a son).

They were taking up the whole sidewalk

and walking towards us. 

Not one of the men moved to allow us 

room on the sidewalk and we had to walk 

in the grass. 

Don't get me wrong; I have no problem

walking in the grass. However, I do have a problem

with what used to be commonplace aka respect

being seemingly nonexistent. 

It does encourage me when I do have my 

own children that we will not neglect that

part of parenting. 

And I know I'm going to catch

some flack for this, but I'm going to talk about it

anyway. 

The hot topic: Gay Bullying. 

Last night, while I was waiting on Mad Men to start

I was flipping the channels and noticed that 

Larry King had an entire panel on his show

about what to do about gay bullying. 

They threw out facts and figures about the percentage of

gay teens who kills themselves and compared it to their

heterosexual peers. Apparently, they are 4x more likely 

to kill themselves because of bullying...

They had celebrities on who had formed a new 

organization called Give A Damn.org

for gay teens who need help. 

They suggested that every school 

needed a safe zone for gay students

to voice their concerns. 

This is all great. HOWEVER, 

if there's a bully in the school

he/she is probably not just 

picking on the one "gay" 

person in the school...

he/she is probably picking on a number of 

students that may be black, Asian, little, 

handicapped, female, etc. 

Also, shouldn't there be a "safe zone"

for every student?

If that's what they meant, they 

certainly didn't imply it. 

You know why people 

in general don't feel like 

there's a safe zone for anyone 

anymore? 

Because so few people

actually show respect to everyone.

Oh, they say they do, but there

are still people that are on their list

that when called into question,

wouldn't be given the time of day. 

Anywho, I noticed that 9 o'clock had rolled around, 

so I flipped the channel to AMC and watched the 

season finale to my favorite show...

thinking about a different time. 

Making breakfast...

Hosting parties:

And the like... while

avoiding the craziness of Betty Francis.

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(Note: I don't think it would have

been any better in this time... 

especially for women in the workplace, 

but they were still respected

by men on the street, who tipped their hats, 

and moved to the side, so that a woman

 could pass by.

Did I romanticize it too much?

Nah.)

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