Rome Is Burning...

So, yesterday I was out running some errands around town and meeting with a friend to help her with a knitting problem and I realized what a sorry state our country is in. The sense of entitlement begins very young.

Scene 1- I am at Michael's waiting for the Pier 1 to open and I am standing in line to make a purchase. Two customers in front of me is a late20/early 30ish woman and her pre-school daughter. The friendly cashier gives the child a free glow-in-the-dark bracelet (Halloween leftovers that can't get rid of??). Does this child say "Thank You?" Does the mom prompt the child to say "Thank You?" If you answered "No" to both questins, then you are correct. I was floored. I could not believe it. They walked out and said absolutely nothing to the nice lady behind the counter. WTF???

Scene 2- at the library. I met a friend at the library to help her with her knitting. There was a young (early 20's) woman at the computers with her toddler who was extremely fussy. She was totalyy ignoring this child who continued to fuss and carry on wanting attention. Another lady, once again late 20's/early 30's comes in with two preschool boys who are left unattended while she disappears into the stacks. These two little heathens begin to fight, wrestle, run-around, yell at each other and disturb all of the others who are tryong to be quiet. They are soon joined by a third boy whose mom is on the computer in Internet oblivion. I complain to the nice volunteer who tries to calm the children instead of finding the responsible adults and telling them to rein in their brats!!!

I have 2 kids- a 13 yo son, and a 7yo daughter. They can be a bit much at times and I have been known to call them the poster children for birth control, but I did teach them manneers and would have been mortified if my kiddos had acted like the ones mentioned above. If you don't say "Thank You," you must return the gift to the giver. You do not disrupt in a public place. If I was that desperate for a book, I would have either waited until mom's-day-out or my husband came home. I would not have taken such out-of-control brats to the library with me. Truthfully, my kids love books and woould have sat looking at them for ages, quietly. But, my kids are not perfect, either. Ages is about 15 minutes in reality, which is just enough time for me to find a book for me. They would also follow me into the stacks and sit at my feet looking at their books while I looked for mine.

So, Rome is burning, folks. Are you a fiddler or a fireman???