Lack of respect, abundance of nerve

My cousin Shelby invited me to join her for the homecoming game at Bullock Creek High on Friday. I showed up early to watch the homecoming parade. As I watched float upon float drive by, I began to notice the obnoxious qualities of the younger generations. A few times while watching the parade, kids would run by going for candy and when they ran into me, they didn’t have the slightest intention of apologizing. The kids I’m specifically referring to were old enough to know that they should be polite, but it seemed as if the thought never crossed their minds.

Later on during the football game, Shelby and I were sitting in the stands discussing various subjects and cheering on the team. A family was sitting right next to us and their two kids had decided that they were going to come and go out of the bleachers. At first it was fine, I understood that the kids were bored and wanted to go play. However about the 50^th time I had to shift my position so they could get by, fury was building inside me. Shelby and I became quickly irritated. Every time the kids would come talk to the mother or ask for money to buy yet another concession item, I would look over at the mom with a look that said “are you planning to do anything?”  Finally, I concluded that she had no respect for the fact that every single time her kids came in or out, Shelby and I had to move for them. Actually, she never even looked over at us. I might add that every time the kids came through, they never said so much as a simple “excuse me.” At my wits end, I mentioned to Shelby that we should go get some popcorn.

On our way down the stands, several middle-schoolers were running up and down the steps. One very inanely courageous boy as he walked past me said, “I don’t know you but I’d like to,” which was of course followed by an uproar of laughter from his buddies. Shortly after that incident, we were quickly cut off by three boys wearing their middle school football jerseys. I am not the kind of person to stand by and watch stupidity and impoliteness occur in younger kids. The way I was raised, if I were to act the way some of these kids act these days, I would’ve gotten a slap. After getting cut off, I made a comment loud enough for the kids to hear.

When Shelby and I reached the bottom of the stands, more kids came running down. An older man shouted out, “Hey! Quit your runnin’!” One of the more gutsy kids yelled back, “Screw you!” I piped up and said “Excuse me! Do you really think you can talk to an older man like that?” The kid then proceeded to argue with me that he “wasn’t talking to him.” I was appalled at the nerve that kid had. What’s more I’d like to know why that kid thinks it’s okay to talk like that to an authority figure. I blame the parents. Point taken kids these days have no respect.