Common Courtesy

What is this world coming to?

What happened to Common Courtesy? I'm not yet 30 years old (hey, I have 8 more days of being able to say that) and I almost feel like I'm old fashioned about this sometimes. I was taught growing up that you hold doors open for people, say "please" and "thank you", wait your turn and generally just treat people with respect.

Today, I saw a gentleman, actually, I can't call him that...I saw a man basically slam a door in the face of a woman who was not more than six feet behind him entering an office building. I would like to be able to say that's an uncommon sight. This man looked to be about 45 years old. The funny thing is that it seems to be more common in folks that are 10 or 15 years older than I than it is in my generation. Basically every person I know has at least a shred of decency and courtesy in them.

How did this seem to skip a generation? Weren't these the people that taught my generation its values? Perhaps not. All I can say, though, is that I'm doing what I can to not allow it to skip my kids' generation. They will have manners if it kills me (which it probably will...) Hopefully, by the time they are my age, they are not looking at me and my generation and seeing the same sort of behavior.

I guess the reason this irks me so much is because it's really not that hard to be nice to people. Smile at someone once in a while, they'll probably smile back. And then they'll probably smile at the next person they see...