Where are the Manners in Today's World

This past week, people have used rude behavior to the point where people are scratching their heads and saying what's wrong with them. Three incidents within a week and a half has illustrated the point where rudeness has taken over and having good manners and civility in public has gone out the window in today's world:


State Representative of South Carolina Joe Wilson


If you disagree with the President of The United States, that's fine because you are not going agree with everything that the president (regardless of their political affiliation) has to say. If you want to have your own press conference, whether it's for television, radio or just post it online and voice your opinion on a specific topic, that's okay too. But you should never shout or yell out anything during the president's speech to Congress.


Politicians (Democrats, Republicans, Independents) must give respect to the President, the House of Representative and the Senate , especially if the event is televised, and if they have a beef with what was said, talk to that person privately. Recently Wilson apologized to the president and the House rebuked him for his behavior


Serena Williams

Serena's ouburst last Saturday night at the U.S. Open Finals in Queens, New York received a lot of attention over the weekend. The reason was for what she said to the line judge. If you saw the video in the news or online, where you can watch the raw and uncut version of the exchange, you couldn't believe what you just seen. Of course, you cannot berate and cuss out the line judge if you disagree with them, but then again, the judge's decision, which caused the outburst in the first place, was something that is rarely called during a tennis match.


Granted, Serena should of kept her cool when it happened ( she have already apologized for her actions and was fined for the outburst) but what made her tirade different from those of tennis greats John McEnroe ( and I like John, too) and Jimmy Connors, who both made it a habit in their matches of verbally attacking the line judge if they disagreed with them?


Kanye West


Kanye's actions at the MTV Music Awards was inexcusable, indefensable and there is nothing you cannot say to justify about what happened on that stage Sunday Night. Even though the show went on as planned with the awards and performances (except for the unexpected on stage appearance by lil' mama during Jay-Z and Alicia Keys performace of Empire State of Mind) the show lost that positive and uplifting enegy, especially coming after Madonna's speech about Michael Jackson along his sister Janet coming on stage and performing a dance tribute to her brother. As one of my relatives used to say when things went from good to bad in a short period of time, the MTV Music Awards went "From sugar to (well, use your favorite cuss word to fill in
the blank) in no time."


It was a really bold to pull a stunt like that off, but to come on stage, take the microphone from Taylor Swift's hand while she was talking and made a speech like that for a category he wasn't even nominated for was horrible. I like Kanye's music ( and I still do after this incident) but his tirades, if things are not going his way ( he has a history of that, whether it is not winning an award, performing at an awards show, etc. ) is not good at all. If you are performer sitting at a award show and you disagree when an fellow artist wins an award, that fine but don't jump on stage and act a fool. Now I have to admit when the Ol' Dirty Bastard crashed the stage and made his speech at the 1998 Grammy Awards right before Shawn Colvin was about to speak, now that was entertainment, but the MTV Awards Show stunt, not so much. Recently, Kanye apologized anywhere and everywhere as possible (on his blog, The Jay Leno Show, and even called Swift after her appearance on The View.)


Bad Manners from everyday people

Bad manners are not limited to politicians, athletes, and entertainers because some people in general exhibit poor behavior while in public. How many times have you been at a fast food restaurant or a food court in a mall and noticed that people instead of taking their trash and throw it away, leave it on the table and expect someone else to clean it up; when people bump into you without saying excuse me; when people trying to give a speech in a meeting but at the same time, someone is interrupting you ( the town-hall meetings on health care is an example of that); when people get a phone on their cell phone and instead of getting up and walking away, they just sit there and talk away ( do I really care or hear about your personal business?); when people that you don't even know, come into your neighborhood with something to eat and/or drink and once they are done with it, they drop their trash on your lawn (I really hate that because I have to clean the mess they made); oe when people either play loud music and/or talking loud to other people at night, especially if you are trying to sleep (I don't mind having the music up or even talking a little loud but don't do that when folks are sleeping because it doesn't make any sense.)


You have to ask yourself, "Where are the manners, people!" You would think that someone in their life ( mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grandma, granddad, etc.) should have taught them manners along with how to act in public. But I guess that fell by the wayside because nowadays, people only care about themselves and have adopted the "who cares about them" mentality toward other people.

C'mon people, get it together!

The Demise of Summer

Ah yes..summertime. A leisure time filled with cookouts; pool parties; vacation trips to different cities, states or countries; trips to amusement parks; riding your bike all around town; outdoor concerts; driving around with the windows or in some cases the top down, etc. is sadly coming

to an end. With Labor day come and gone, kids back in school, people back to work after coming back from their Summer break, and even though Autumn doesn't start until September 22, Summer as we know it, is pretty much over. The days of sitting on your porch after a long day of work and/or play will give way to cooler temperatures and the sun setting earlier and earlier as the days go on.

Autumn- Not a bad season compared to Spring and Summer

Right now in September, as a sports fan, I look forward to the start of the college football and

the National Football League seasons; to the Major League Baseball Playoffs and World Series

in October; and to the beginning of the National Basketball Associaion season and College Basketball in November. However, when it is November, and the weather is colder and the leaves are off the trees and in the streets, I know that winter time is just around the corner. Living in Ohio, we get our share (the good and the bad) of each of the four seasons.There are some people who like one season better than the other three seasons, while other folks say "

I like living here because of the four seasons." Yeah, I like the four seasons, too- THE SINGING GROUP. But serouosuly, I like Spring, really enjoy Summer and Autumn is not too bad after all, but Winter, forget about it.

Not a big fan of Wintertime

Don't get me wrong. I really like the whole Christmas atmosphere, whether it's christmas decorations ( either at the mall or on someone's house) Christmas cookies, Christmas shopping ( or the idea of fighting with people for gifts) Christmas songs, Christmas parties ( try to crash as many as you can, folks!) but the concept of having a white Christmas is overrated (yeah I said it!) Let's just say that I'm a not a fan of the Winter season at all. The idea of just thinking about

shoveling plies of snow from my sidewalk and driveway along with going outside in single digit temperaure is something I'm not looking forward to.

It's like this: at the beginning of December, people can't wait for the snow to start falling along with the cold temperatures. By the way, these are the same people who want a white Christmas but want the snow to start melting and the temperature to start rising the day after Christmas. But by February, all of that happiness about Winter becomes an afterthough because by then people become really tired of the season and wish Spring would get here as soon as possible. Yeah, Winter only last three months but is seems like it lasts longer than that while summer is here and gone before you know it.

A Final Note on Summer

So to folks out there, savior the final days of summer because it's going to be a good while

before it comes back again. To quote Sly Stone and the Family Stone's 1969 hit "Hot Fun In

The Summertime" when describing the arrival of Fall and the departure of Summer:

First of the fall and then she goes back

Bye bye bye bye there

Them summer days, those summer days