It has become painfully obvious to me that common courtesy is nearly extinct.
I find myself being surprised when people do something considerate, or less than self-centered.
When did this shift happen?
Growing up, I remember people holding doors for one another, being polite and having respect for the differences between each other.
Those days are gone.
I can't remember the last time I've gone somewhere without dealing with people's selfishness, rudeness and flat-out meanness in the process.
It's not just when I go somewhere, either. The sad truth is, I can't even escape it when I'm at home.
Whoever lives across the street from me (I don't know their names, nor do I care to know them), they can't seem to process the realization that not everyone works 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and people have to sleep at "odd" hours.
Several times a week, usually between the hours of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., they feel the need to rev their car off and on for a span of about four hours.
The car is situated directly outside of my bedroom window. They're not working on it, they're not really doing anything to it - just revving it, peeling out down the street and returning about 10 minutes later to start the cycle all over again.
I get off of work at 7 a.m. and actually need to sleep during the time this is going on.
I can't sleep with ear plugs in or I won't hear my alarm in order to get up for work the following day.
I'm not sure what makes them or anyone else think they have the right to be so loud and obnoxious, but I'm about sick of having my personal rights infringed upon constantly just because people feel they're entitled to do whatever they want, whenever they want.
Furthermore, a lot of people in the area have small children as well, and I'm sure it's difficult to have a child nap with that commotion going on day in and day out.
I really think it's time for people to take responsibility for themselves.
It's time to realize that everything isn't always about you.
It's time to start having a little common decency and treating one another better.
With the way the economy is heading, the only way people are going to make it is to have some sort of decent relationship with people who live around them and being self-centered and rude isn't the way to go about it.
Just take a moment and think about how your actions will benefit others, be it for the better or for the worse.
