It bothers me that, in this day and age, it is
considered acceptable to knock on my door at 11:00 at night, even if it is
evident that I’m awake, and ask to borrow my camera. Especially since this
person apparently didn’t realize the huge favor I was doing for her and
insisted I hunt around for the USB cable so her pictures can be transferred
to her computer right this minute. I’m happy to help out, but a little
gratitude would be nice.
The problem is, this isn’t an isolated incident. Things like this happen
every day, and most of the teenagers here consider it normal. There are a
lot of little things, whether it’s playing the music loud enough so that it
can be heard on the other side of the building or running through the
hallways screaming. There are even some incidences of people opening the
doors without knocking. (You’d think that after a few people had been caught
in various states of undress, that one would have stopped, but no.) One has
to wonder what’s happening to our culture.
I’m not old enough to remember a time where the world was different, but the
culture of manners that my parents raised me to adhere to has to have come
from somewhere. Sometime before I was born, people were polite to one
another and never would dream of opening a door unannounced. Indeed, it is
this time that we all remember on the Fedora Chronicles forum. So what has
happened to our culture?
Some people blame popular media. Others blame irresponsible parents. And
there are a few who blame it on the decline of the fedora in modern times. I
doubt it’s any of these things, and I wonder if there is any cause. But it
does seem to me that this generation is not polite. And that’s coming from
someone who is in this generation.
So where have all the manners gone? I don’t know. But I sure hope they come
back. Until then, I’ll just have to resign myself to the entire world trying
to borrow my electronics.
Kira Schiavone is a high school student who's working on becoming a
professional writer, and enjoys reading and writing rants for the
Fedora Chronicles.
