So I have a bit of a confession to make. This is not the first draft of this post. Last night I sat down at my computer and started to write. I was totally up on my soap box and ranting about how people don't respect each other enough these days. I went on and on about how things were different in the past; things were more proper and less brash. I wrote quite a bit before I realized how preachy it sounded and I hated it immediately. No one likes to be lectured. But the theme remains in my mind.
Today I watched the movie "Kate and Leopold" for the first time. If you have never seen it and you are of the female sex, I would encourage it simply for the joy of watching Hugh Jackman as a sexy nobleman who falls in love with the always adorable Meg Ryan. The plot was a little (and by a little a mean a lot) far-fetched but it still made for a rather romantic movie. But it's not the romance or the all-around handsomeness of Mr. Jackman that I want to talk about right now. The character he plays is brought into present time from the year 1876. His attire is odd and very formal compared to today's clothes. His behavior and mannerisms are strange and very polite. His techniques for wooing women are classic and are still successful. In that sense alone does he remain timeless. In all other senses, he is a weird speciman dropped right in the middle of modern day Manhattan.
So my ponderings are thus... when did being polite become rare or strange? When did treating people with respect and dignity go out the window? If it's not broke, why do we fix it?
I often yearn for simpler times. I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where people had a given sense of propriety and good manners. Like most people, I really believe I was simply born in the wrong era, the wrong period of time. I am spoiled, yes, to the modern technologies of today's society. I go insane if I can't find my cell phone. I'm a film studies major for crying out loud! Most of my school work revolves around movies, a modern device of entertainment. I'm typing this on a laptop right now. What would I really do if I was dropped into a world of letter writing, cow milking, dancing and courting? Would I feel right at home or would I be utterly lost, like Leopold?
Parents bring their infants to restaurants only to have them scream and cry obnoxiously, disrupting everyone elses' meals around them.
People use swearing language in a formal classroom setting when the professor asks them a simple question.
We let any and every word that comes into our shallow-judgemental heads fly during arguments with the people we love the most.
Today I held the door open for a woman, a stranger, on my way out of school. She looked genuinely surprised at the courtesy. I just don't understand when and why people decided to stop being nice to each other. Man, woman, it doesn't matter. Why do we alienate ourselves? We depend on technology instead of each other. And when the technology fails, we become furious and we are short with the support people we call on the phone. Something has gone horribly wrong.
I want very much to be like the women of the past; sweet, sensible, supportive, and understanding. But because I am a woman of current times, I have more on my plate than the simple life. I have responsiblities all my own. Things are much more complicated. I suppose the goal in life today is to find the passions in your life that narrow the complex down to the bare essentials. Find a job, friends, lovers who make life feel simple for you. And in return, you can take a bit of their burden off of their back as well. If we all make the decision to be sweet, sensible, supportive and understanding...if we all make the decision to respect one another then imagine the impact we could make on the world as a whole. And hear I go, getting back up on my soap box again. Stepping down now.
Do unto others... that's not as easy as it sounds but it's not impossible. And for the record, I do not write all this in response to being a subject to disrespect. Not at all. Like always, simple observations. I want the best for all, not just myself.
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