Slipping down an oily slope.....

I just wrote a LONG blog....reread it and deleted it. I will condense it. I was complaining about the price of gas and also the price of everything else cuz all the stuff we buy comes on trucks that use gas and so the prices of EVERYTHING is also going up. I know we are all trying to figure out why all of this happening and why we are playing the role of the fly in this reenactment of "The Spider and the Fly". I think blaming it all on George Bush is insane and we need to be looking more at our legislators for not letting us drill for the oil our country has been blessed with. Show me the OIL Uncle Sam!

But as sad as this oil crises is it pales next to the real crises in this country....the moral crises. We see it daily....those who refuse to follow simple rules and just do the right thing. I see litter along the highways and people running red lights ....Jim and I saw a car go through a red light going over the speed limit and we were thankful nobody was killed ...and I was nearly in an accident on the way to school Monday morn because someone was going about 30 miles over the speed limit. I know someone who was hit head on....the dude that hit him was in the wrong lane and had his head down text messaging someone. It looked as if there was nobody even driving his car....soooo scary. My friend's new truck was totalled. I am thankful he is ok.

There is a whole generation that believes rules are for breaking or at the least they are merely suggestions. Each year we see it getting worse...and we are all to blame. In an attempt to be compassionate and give second, third and fourth chances we send the message that consequences are a thing of the past and there will always be a way out of trouble. In our attempt ....when I say "our" I am talking about our society.....we have become soft and the result is chaos.

When I see the rude behavior around me each day....I remember how my teachers not only taught me subjects such as English and History and Science.....but they were concerned about our manners. We were even corrected when we didn't put our left hands on our laps at lunch.... now that sort of correction is considered to be crazy. In the north we may not have used the "Yes Mam and No Sir" we associate with southern manners, but we were taught to say please and thank you ....to make proper introductions and to open doors for people whose hands are full....or carry something for someone who needs help. It is something you just did....you helped out if you could. It was just a little thing and we were expected to be civil by adults....but now days if we expect or encourage manners we are belittled and even looked at as people who are over stepping boundaries. I guess it is the right to be rude.

...so oil prices are terrible, but when we live in a society where everyone is just interested in themselves and not able to follow simple rules or show civility toward each other....is oil such a big deal when social chaos is becoming more and more accepted. Being around teens daily I see this more than most. Granted 13 and 14 year olds have never been our society's paragons of virtue, but there has been a marked change in the last ten years that is very alarming and I am wondering what the next ten years will bring....but we will hear about the oil deficit far more than the manner deficit.

Thanks.... a body has to vent now and then or they will break out in the shingles or something.