Every time I return home after running an errand of some sort, I have a story for my wife. The stories are always about some ridiculous thing that happened, either related to unbelievably poor customer service or some other form of humans being awful to each other. I don’t know if it’s a generational thing, a cultural thing, a pandemic thing, a religious thing or if it’s just that we’re now a divided world and I need to get used to it. And by divided, I don’t mean divided over anything specific – my observations suggest we are divided over EVERYTHING.

Common decency seems to be gone, sure there are still pockets of it, but you’ll just be disappointed if you expect it as part of your daily routine. A sense of entitlement seems to persist and there is always someone waiting to pounce on anything you write or say, almost for the sport of it. I’m convinced I could post something about puppies and I would get attacked for my anti-kitten stance all while telling me my concerns are first world problems and not worthy of voicing. Yes, I know all my issues will always be of the first world variety, but that shouldn’t mean we just allow poor manners and the lack of common courtesy to become the norm…should it? I thought as we started to turn the corner on the pandemic people would be kind and eager to see each other as we celebrate the beginning of a hopeful future. I thought businesses would be happy to see customers return. Sadly, I have found the exact opposite to be true.

Maybe it’s just me… I hope it’s just me, and everyone else is experiencing the opposite of what I am. I guess I should lower the bar and just go about my business with little to no expectations, but it’s starting to feel like even that may not be low enough.