Recently, a favorite client of mine came into my office filled with rage. Over what, you might ask? She just yelled, pointed her finger, and made the usual gestures for 10 minutes…over a parking space! When I asked why, she responded “just because.”
Wow, is this the new “normal” conversation for 2017? My 75-year old client was red-faced, hair all mussed – and looking like, at any minute, should have the assistance of a cardiologist.
In my elder law practice, I try to pass on words of wisdom. Here’s a nugget that’s just from one human to another — stop yelling, stop flipping the bird at other drivers, and stop acting like you’re superhuman.
I read an article a few weeks ago where a senior, in the middle of one of these “combat commando” activities, at a food market, had a heart attack – all because of an argument over a shopping cart. I know civility is dead, but do we have to die also?
We often look back in time and believe that things were better. There was a time when technology simply meant a new product on the market. Remember the whoops and hollers when TV dinners were introduced?
This is a new age. We can complain about the lack of manners, the disrespect to authority, and the demonstrations in the streets for whatever side you’re on, but here is the key—manners, respect, courtesy, and kindness come from within us.
You can’t change others – only yourself. Is a parking space worth your time? When Smokey the Bear said, “the life you save may be your own,” he was talking to us.
Take it for what it is…It’s just AS I SEE IT.
photo credit: SenseiAlan, 1967 Swanson TV Dinner Advertisement Life Magazine October 6 1967
