Further to the whole Kanye West debacle at the MTV Video Music Awards, I’m reminded of just how this past week has been a record-setting week in vulgarity and bad manners.

First, Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina called President Obama a liar (“You Lie!”). Then Serena Williams had a melt down at a line coach at the US Open, and finally, mini-me extraordinaire (was that rude?), Kanye West, figuratively slapped Taylor Swift in the face in her long-awaited and well-deserved moment in time.

(Hell, even I flipped off a kissed middle finger to a bad driver last weekend...eek! But he DESERVED it! But that’s still no excuse.)

I can certainly understand why people lose their manners in the heat of the moment; it’s happened to all of us. However, what concerns me even more so is the every day courtesies and etiquette that we have forgotten to practice.

Like holding doors for people, especially the ladies, respecting your elders (even though their view may be a bit dated, there is still a lot of value in their advice), and saying PLEASE and THANK YOU.

My first brush with this modern changing attitude was when I first moved to New York City back in 1995. I was walking into a restaurant and there were about 6-10 teenagers walking out of the door as soon as I opened it to walk in. I had no choice but to step aside.

I courteously held the door while they exited – not one of them said thank you, or even acknowledged the fact that they practically stampeded over me to get out. What’s worse was that those students were dressed in private school uniforms. You would think that above any other students, those students would have some propriety about them.

At first I thought, well maybe that’s just NYC kids, but NO, IT’S NOT. And at the risk of sounding like some old fart, as a person who was raised to practice good manners, our youth are lost to impropriety and just good ol’ common sense and respect for their fellow human being, not to mention their OWN PEERS!

We’ve become so wrapped up in our celebrity culture that we’ve come to emulate those so-called stars and their bad behavior. We think that it’s ‘cool’ to berate someone just for the sake of our own ego.
I call upon all people to practice proper etiquette next time you see someone forgetting their manners....CALL THEM ON IT!! Calling them out on their shit is GOOD ETIQUETTE on your part.