Wednesday, September 16, 2009

social decorum...where have you gone?

So I'll admit it I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to behavior in public. And it seems that this last week has proven something that has been niggling at me for the last few years.

We as a country have lost our sense of social decorum.

I actually began this conversation with Sophie Littlefield www.sophielittlefield.com and Rachelle Chase www.rachellechase.com on our monthly trip into Berkeley for the RWA meeting last Saturday after the Congressman shouted out "you lie" during President Obama's speech. I found that shocking. Seriously.

While that was the most grossly inappropriate, the last few days have shown a growing deterioration of behavior in public situations. Kanye West. Serena Williams. It seems every time we turn around some public figure is behaving badly. And if people who are supposed to be role models behave this poorly what example are we setting for our kids and for ourselves?

This isn't to say that I always behave perfectly. Far from it. But shouldn't we hold ourselves and our country to a higher standard?

So the next time you're tempted to blurt something out...Don't!
And I'll do the same. :)

2 comments:

Sophie Littlefield said...

um....that was right after my "BART can blow me" rant, if I remember right. I'm still kind of embarrassed about that....but you and Rachelle aren't exactly "the public", right? Oh well, I'll keep trying to behave.... :)

Unknown said...

yes, as I recall we were both in pretty bad moods which were summarily lightened by ranting, er...discussing the decline of public behavior and the cost of public transportation...hmm, seems like if we could just get rid of the public--things would be fine :)