Teen rudeness

Some years ago, my mother and I were walking in a mall during the holiday season. Naturally, it was a crowded scene. After a while I noticed she kept stepping out of the way for groups of young people coming toward us. As the pattern continued, I commented to her that if she just kept walking in the direction she was already going, they would move for her. After all, she was the 'elderly' person and deserved the respect. A few weeks later, she relayed to me that she had tried that. She had been at another mall when the same pattern occurred. So she followed my advice and sure enough the teens would adjust their course at the last second, allowing her to walk unhindered through the crowds.

Well, last night bw and I faced a similar situation. We went for a walk in the late evening. We realized after we left our house that it was "first Friday." This is a time in our town when the downtown stores stay open late, street vendors and musicians come out, the main streets are closed and crowds of people just walk around and socialize. It has become so popular over the years that the number of pedestrians becomes quite sizable. It happened that our walk occurred just after the street barriers had been taken down. So now these crowds of people were restricted to the sidewalks. Bw and I have talked about these situations in the past. So by our agreement, when we approached a situation in which we could not walk side-by-side, she would step behind me. Still there were a few times last night when things got fairly crowded. These two events occurred:

The first involved a group of young ladies approaching us. Bw stepped behind me. But I would not budge. We had already formed our single file so that the 2 groups could pass without incident. But the second girl in the group approaching would not move over. So I kept my left shoulder firm and just walked straight ahead. After our shoulders bumped, I heard her behind me say, "Ouch!" as if I should not have done that to her. I ignored her cry and just kept walking. Admittedly, this was not the most Christlike thing I have ever done. But I'm tired of young people acting as if the rest of the world should make way for them--literally or figuratively. We are clearly the elders in these situations. Someone should have taught them some manners, like respecting people who are older, even if they are not infirm.

The second event occurred shortly afterward. We approached an area even more crowded than the first. This time only one line could squeeze through at a time. Bw again went behind me. But we approached the narrow spot at the same time a group of young men came from the opposite direction. Just before my shoulder hit the lead guy, I heard him say, "F___ out of my way." Well, I did not "F___" out of his way. And our shoulders hit again, though not as firmly as the first incident. Apparently, he decided at the last second that his shoulder was more valuable than his vanity or anger or whatever.

Then to cap it all off, as we headed down a side street to start our circuit back home, we merged with another group of young people coming from another direction. We ended up going the same way. But just as we were approaching this third group of young people, I heard one of the young men (obviously concluding a story he had been telling) say, "Their parents should teach their children some f_______ manners." Well, I almost laughed out loud at the irony. Another lady, maybe a little older than I, turned around and chuckled to herself at the rudeness of his speech in light of what I had said. But bw and I just merged into the foot traffic and headed back home.

Well, as crudely as this last fellow said it, he is right: Someone/parents should teach their children some manners.

What do you think?

Thank you for reading.

P.S.: Oh yeah, and don't tell me we were just as rude when we were that age, because generally speaking we were not.