Do the kids have a chance?

I didn't just grow up.

I was taught to speak when I entered a room....

say please and thank you...

to have respect for my elders...

to get up off my butt and let the elder in the room have my chair....

to say "yes sir" and "yes ma'am",  "no sir" and "no ma'am"...

to lend a helping hand to those in need.....

to hold the door for the person behind me....

to say "excuse me" when it was needed....

to love people for who they are, and not for what I could get from them....

and I was raised to treat people the way I wanted to be treated.

 

These are all simple little things that many just take for granted.  In today's world they are also things that often seem to be going by the wayside.  Today's world is a busier place than when I was growing up.  So many moms and dads seem much more smitten with the "gotta have it" virus.  In many families both parents are working.  In some cases it is just so they can live an ordinary low-key life style.  In other cases it is because what the Jones's have is a telling signal to what they need in order to "fit in" or belong. 

 

In these times do the kids have a chance?  A chance to learn and appreciate the value of those simple little things that were just as much a part of life as the dirt we played in way back when.  Each of those simple little things represented not only politeness, but they each focused on the other rather than the self.....and that was the major import of each of those taught habits.  To get out of self.

 

As you read this you may well be thinking "well, that old goat is just living in the past".  Maybe it's true to a degree.  But with that said, are you thinking of the future?  How your kids are going to grow up?  Wrapped up in self or thinking first of others?  Do they have a chance (or a choice) because of the way you are growing them up?