Another Sign of the Times

Independence Day is to celebrate our country's independence from England. Events on July 4, 2010, brought into focus once again how times are changing as individual desires are being declared by actions to be more important than societal order or society at large. This appears to be the result of lax parenting and the now commonplace moral relativism. I commented to my wife that the scary part is that the people who are acting out this behavior are also raising the next generation. What can we expect but more societal anarchy in the future? The events of which I speak took place at an apartment complex swimming pool.  I will admit right up front that I was a guest at the complex and that I probably should have kept my mouth shut. You now know that this was an afterthought. As I took a seat on one of the pool side lounge chairs, I observed the people that were already in the pool. I asked a woman who was approximately twelve feet from me if she really needed to smoke in the pool. My assumption was that smoking on the patio was allowed due to the visible buckets of sand containing cigarette butts. I did not believe that smoking was permitted in the pool itself. That would have been the end of it for me until I heard her reply. As she stood in waist deep water near the side of the pool at the bottom of the steps she looked straight at me saying, "Well, I'm not actually in the pool." My immediate response was, "I guess that I am not actually on the patio then." The above encounter was among other rule breakers such as alcohol and food being on deck. In fact the containers and jello shots were being handled by others in the group who were likewise standing in the pool. The perpetrators of the behavior took offense to the suggestion that there were pool rules that affected them. Their attitude was that they should not be held accountable to any rules or person that contradicted their personal desires. As a truck driver I see this behavior on the roadways everyday and it has increased with the distracted driving due to cell phones and texting devices. I wrote about two events in two days in my June 17th blog, Job Change, which you can go back and read. The very next day I logged this Facebook entry;

Its starting already. no one in front of or behind me and yet he insists on entering the highway exactly where I am. Sticker on window, "Share the Road". For me, not him I guess. Other side of car dented up. Go figure.

Back to the events of the fourth, the drama took a new turn.  A man who was not there from the beginning came over  to me yapping about confronting him and not a woman. He had a very challenging demeanor and I got the impression he was looking for a fight. He took it to new levels with the language he was using within the earshot of children, including those in the group he was with. He took offense at anyone asking him to watch his language with the young ones present. Again, his choices were apparently more important than the societal order or behavior that not too long ago would have been normal and acceptable. As he maligned my manhood for not getting off of the lounge chair to confront him he walked away saying, "Yeah, that's what I thought." I wasn't the one looking for a fight nor was I foolish enough to get in the face of someone that was more youthful in addition to having a six to eight inch height advantage and obvious more athletic physique. He then made it a racial issue as he yapped about how the trouble stemmed from all of us who saw the minorities and assumed that they were making trouble. Up to this point I had not even considered race since there were many races in attendance, including three within my group. In my mind it was all about behavior. The initial interaction was with a white woman, the smoker. I also am Caucasian. So was this a racially stimulated issue? Not in any way whatsoever. I remember thinking that if this is how minorities are perceived to act, the behavior is what begets the attitude of others toward them. In this case it was the behavior of a group of people that were racially mixed, including white people. It was the neighborhood bully, as I later learned, that made the issue racial. That kind of victim mentality will not allow racism to ever die in this country. He justified the behavior by his attitude of victimization. I am happy to know that the victimization attitude is not the prevailing view of the minorities that I know. I refuse to stereotype all minorities as having the attitudes described in this account. The breakdown in society and interaction stems from things such as poor parenting concerning time and discipline, and the removal of God from the schools and public square which fosters the moral relativism we see today. We now see the individual over society attitudes in the public behavior in school, social settings and even the work place. I fail to see how the tide can be reversed if the government continues to run the education system instead of the local community and as states continue to cede their responsibilities and rights to the federal government which is quickly becoming a national government. As I write this I am listening to a documentary by Ben Stein called Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. It is dealing with the intelligent design vs. evolution debate in the higher educational system. It shows how those who dare to go against the government supported view are blacklisted and removed from their positions. In the end, it is our freedoms that are at stake. For the record, I finally arose from the chair and left. I knew the aggressor would not stop yapping and trying to stir something up as long as I was there. In the interest of not seeing the situation spiral out of control and for the sake of the others that were trying to enjoy the pool, I left the area. I later heard that, just I had suspected, he still didn't shut up. Such are the ways of those who are bullies, selfish and disrespectful of those around them. Such is the way of those who are anti-God. Serving the self is the priority issue in every situation.