Rudeness and it's contribution to the downfall of society

"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength." Eric Hoffer


I've been thinking a lot about rudeness recently - mostly because now that I live and work in the city I am sadly much more prone to be on the receiving end of rudeness than I was living and working further north. It may sound unfair and awfully generalizing to say, but I found people who lived outside of the city way more laidback and polite when I was working in Newmarket and living on Lake Simcoe and then in Cookstown. However now I am a city-dweller and thus have to deal on a daily basis with those people who feel they need to impart their misery on someone else.

It probably doesn't help that I work as a retail manager of a huge big-box type of store, and that that store happens to be situated in a a very high-end mall in a very high-end part of town. I don't necessarily believe that rich people display rudeness to others more than the non-rich folks do, but so far at work it seems like the people who cause the most trouble are the ones who are either wearing the expensive suit or carrying the latest Marc Jacobs purse.

There's a sense of entitlement that rude people seem to have - I am important, therefore what I say and do doesn't have consequence. Of course, there may be a variety of reasons why one might seem to think treating another person with disrespect is perfectly alright (even though it isn't) - they've had a really bad day and just want to take it out on someone else, they're dealing with someone whose being rude to them, they're drunk (even at the high-end mall I see this every so often). I think though that it's this sense of entitlement that I find the most bothersome. I think many of the world's problems come down to people or groups of people thinking they are better than another person or another group of people. When I see this, even on a small scale, it makes me think that that person is contributing to the bigger problems without even realizing it. If everyone stopped themselves before they talked down to someone or degraded someone in some sense, and thought "wait a minute, this person is no less important than me. Their feelings are just as important as my own and we are connected in ways I cannot even imagine" - well just imagine how this could change the world!

Everyone was created equal. Yes there are some people who do amazing things with their lives and their are some people who don't. There are saints and there are sinners. But we are still equals. Don't just treat someone else the way you would want to be treated. Treat them well because it's the right thing to do. If you bring someone else down, you bring yourself and the whole world down with you.