Had a few incidents recently that have shown me how different we are now as a society that does not know how to behave in public. Very sad to see how things have changed recently. And with the next political election coming up, well, I’m concerned for this country and society. It seems now that the normal behavior is, “let it all out, no restrictions regarding public behavior.”
So I was in line at an office supply store waiting to pay for my purchase. All of the sudden the person being handled by the cashier turned around and starting speaking to all in line and elsewhere in the store. He started this rampage about what a good guy Mike Lindell, the “My Pillow” guy is. He went on and on. We were his captive audience. I was surprised someone didn’t tell him to just shut up and finish his transaction. But no, on and on he went. I had never experienced something like that in public before.
Then, recently I was in another store. I happened to be in the back of the store and all of the sudden I heard someone somewhere in the front of the store start screaming. He was screaming the most foul, awful things at someone. It was extremely loud and extremely awful, gross, and scary. It went on and on and I finally thought, this could be one of “those” incidents where something awful happens. I immediately thought, wow, if I hear a gunshot I had better have a plan. I immediately looked around and saw the the back of the store had an exit into the warehouse area and thought I’m heading there if there is a gunshot. I was prepared as it seemed very likely this was going to be a bad scene very rapidly.
Well, it turned out there was no gunshot and somehow the exchange ended. Whew! Scary. And, I say, once again, I’ve never been in a situation like this before. I can now imagine how people feel who are trapped in situations like this, where a mass shooting occurs.
So, what’s going on these days? It seems like anything goes. Mass shootings in the news almost daily. People screaming their political views to their public audiences. And even friends and family I have recently discovered can surprise me with their “nastiness.” I’m really surprised by what some have told me. I’ve been told some nasty things and I’ve been told to go buy some guns and lots of ammunition to prepare for the civil war “that is a coming.” Wow. This is not the world of years gone by. This is not the world I grew up in. There have always been nasty people but now I see them everywhere. I never had a fear of crowds before, but now I am aware of strange acting people everywhere. My awareness level is up these days.
It seems that many types of crimes are increasing at a rapid pace. Identity theft is everywhere. When I got my pilot licenses, our pilot numbers were our social security number. Not today. They changed that and assigned new numbers.
So, growing up, we had drills in school called “duck and cover,” where we got under our desks, preparing for earthquakes or atomic bombs. And air raid practice with air raid sirens blarring every month. But we did not have shooting drills, preparing what to do if a shooter got into a school.
Well, you get my point. This is a different world. Small town or big city. It’s different now. And now we are facing another election year. No more civility in the election process. Just lots of awful nastiness. Not looking forward to all of this.
Wally