Common Courtesy

It's not okay to call someone a nigger, or a faggot.  It's not okay to call someone a wetback, even though here in Texas, I hear that term more often than I would like.  In a lot of schools, children are not allowed to have Christmas or Halloween parties anymore, because someone might get offended.  A little person is no longer a midget.  Need I go on?

So why, if we are so intolerant of these terms, have we become more tolerant of behaviors that push the boundaries of what is acceptable and civilized?

When I was young I was taught that it was rude to stare.  It's rude to stare at people for any reason, and especially rude if that person is in a wheelchair or otherwise incapacitated.  A good friend of mine, over dinner one night, told me about a woman who brought her autistic son into a store.  The boy proceeded to vocally stim...he whooped and made loud noises like a siren.  Everyone in the store, who was in the area, proceeded to stop what they were doing, and stare.

I can't blame people for looking to see where the noise was coming from.  However, after an initial glance, it should have been obvious that the child wasn't doing it on purpose.  Yet people stare.  They've stared at me and Logan, when we're in a store and he does odd things.  How about going about your business, instead, or walking up to that woman and asking if she needs help?  The thought would never enter anyone's mind, in this day and age.

Over the weekend I had dinner with another friend who works in the medical field.  While we were eating lunch a woman approached her and said hello.  The woman proceeded to say that she needed to see my friend soon, and that she was thinking of getting a tummy tuck!  What possesses people to do this?  If you have a doctor...or a lawyer...that you need to see...take my advice!  DON'T approach these people at a restaurant, or a social function, or at church, or any other public place!  They have private lives.  Respect that.  If you need to see them so urgently, call them at WORK, or make an APPOINTMENT like the rest of us!

I read a story in the news a few months ago.  A person was a victim of a hit and run accident.  The person lay on the curb of the street while cars and people passed them by.  This went on for almost half an hour or so before someone finally got help.  COME ON!  Someone is LAYING on the sidewalk.  Obviously, something is wrong.  ASK THEM IF THEY NEED HELP.

We've become a society that turns the other cheek when it comes to helping others and reaching out to others.  We don't want to be involved.  We don't want that ugliness or that complication to touch us.  What would happen if we exercised some common courtesy.  Say hello at the check out counter.  Ask the person how their day was.  Say excuse me if you bump into someone.  Call someone and say, I haven't heard from you in a while.  How have you been?  Offer to help someone who is struggling out of a car or can't open a door.  Simple things.  Common things.  Powerful things.