Open All Night

Two things this week reinforced something that I already believed, namely that children who are part of the middle class or above in the United States are coddled beyond belief. The first was a radio discussion about how kids today essentially don full body armor to ride their bike. The second was the asinine law proposed in California (by a legislator with no children I might add) that parents who spank children under 4 are committing a crime. Both of these are surprising to me, and I am not even an old coot (yet).

I think that this spoon feeding of the nation’s kids is emblematic of a larger problem - entitlement. It is becoming increasingly pervasive in society that people feel that they are entitled to everything. I think that a portion of it can be attributed to how litigious we have become. Look at the plane that skidded off a Wisconsin runway this past weekend. 120 something people on board, and the plane skids to a stop without hitting anything. Everyone was ok, save for one poor soul who had some back pain. I bet, if you interrogated that turd, you would find out that he already had a back condition, and more pressingly, felt “entitled” to get something out of the misfortune. But, I think the other portions are related to the youth (or “yoot” as Pops would say). It is a chicken and egg relationship as far as I am concerned. I don’t know whether the babying of our youngins, and providing them with every electronic novelty is a microcosm of the society as a whole and that it filtered down to them, or conversely has filtered upward. I say this because the behavior is no longer limited to children (as per the plane example). To me, the best example of “entitlement” at work is on the road. I have driven about 5 hours so far this week, and kept track of anything related to this subject. The examples are endless! To wit:

• People who are about to miss an exit or turn, and just force their way over, since they can’t be inconvenienced to go up and turn around.

• People backing up - I actually had someone backing up stop when they saw me, and then proceed anyway! This forced me to stop.

• Changing lanes - I cannot even count how many times I see this on the lovely Michigan roads, where people just assume someone is going to let them in, change lanes without indicating, before indicating, or with one “blink.”

• Thanks for running that red light, because your time is so valuable, why should you have to stop?

• Construction zone or lane ending - of course you are more worthy than me, why don’t you mosey on up to the pinch point, or better yet use the shoulder.

• Not related, but while I am rolling here, when people walk in the centre of a driving lane in a parking lot. They do not care that cars are trying to get through. I am just going to run over one of those $%!#ers one day. Better yet, I am going to get a car akin to my grandmothers 1972 Buick Riviera and police the above few items via the front bumper (and rear bumper too, when required).

Perhaps entitled is the wrong word to describe all of these, however I think that it is accurate. All boil down to a person feeling that they are more important and that they should come first. The rest of the world hates us, so by all means let us continue to corrupt our values system so no one cares about others and just continue to exemplify this stereotype.

Ornery as always,
-Michael