The news long ago became a litany of mostly bad people who make others' lives miserable. While I used to take come comfort in the thought that you can only measure people by what they do when they are alone in the dark of the night, I am pretty shocked by what people do in broad daylight this days.
There is no question crimes are becoming more shocking every day, but even looking at everyday behavior, I wonder what kind of society we are becoming.
Often the small thoughtless things show how messed up we are. We have adopted Oprah's no cellphone while driving pledge. Fortunately there are usually two of us in the car so we are covered. It did not take any convincing since we have seen plenty of people with cellphone glued to their ears acting like they are drunk.
Just yesterday I saw someone run a red light with a cellphone on their ear. Within a couple of miles of that spot I saw another vehicle speed up to run a red light. It is not like we live where being on time for an appointment is absolutely critical. We live at the beach, not inside the Washington beltway.
On Friday we were at Lowe's Home Improvement Center. I watched as a truck parked nearby had to be backed out of the space before the driver's wife could get in the passenger door. If you have ever been to the Cape Carteret, NC Lowe's, you know that there is plenty of parking.
It brought back memories of a couple weeks ago in Roanoke, Va when I had to crawl into the driver's seat of my car from the passenger's seat. A thoughtless idiot had parked so close to my driver's door that even my two year old granddaughter could not have gotten in my car.
I actually got to say something to him as he was getting in his car. I was nice. I just said that it might be nice if he paid attention to the car next to him the next time he parked. His comment was that he was within the lines so it was my problem.
And that is our problem, because if I only care about my little space and not how I am impacting the rest of the world, I am probably part of the problem and not part of the solution.
My mother always taught me to think about how whatever I was about to do would help or hurt others. Learning that life is not just about me is a basic life lesson that I learned. I have managed to take that life lesson and make it a strategy for life.
My goal is that I try to make everyone and every place that I touch a little better for my having been there.
If I leave good thoughts instead of bitterness, and create value instead of animosity, I feel successful. It is a good road to follow.
