I recently heard a fellow say that old age begins when the world no longer makes sense to you. By that standard, I entered my Golden Years when I was 9.
The remark came as part of a talk on technology, which I'll admit rules our lives in ways we couldn't begin to imagine 20, 10, or even five years ago. But just because I can't figure out how to program my new phone doesn't mean I'm old. It just means I haven't caught up with the latest unnecessary functions from Android World.
Oh, phones. They are a boon to mankind and a bane to our existence, aren't they? They allow us to do a zillion things, including staying in touch with one another, while simultaneously eroding the bedrock of a civilized society.
It all gets down to manners.
I was raised to understand that a person's telephone conversation is privileged, and that a polite person leaves the room when someone takes a call. Also, a polite person doesn't take a call when he or she is engaged in conversation with an actual live human being-type person in the room.
As a kid, I actually found this very confusing: Leave the room when someone's on the phone, but don't answer the phone when someone's in the room? Huh? And that business about phone conversations being privileged? Please. We were on a party line. Anything said on the phone was fair game for the neighbors, and vice versa.
It seemed to me any way you played it, chances are you were going to get into trouble and it was easier just to stay off the phone altogether. Manners are manners and rules are rules and you followed them if you wanted to survive to adulthood.
Today, telephonic portability has rendered the old rules useless, and what used to be seen as intolerably rude - people feeling free to make and take calls or texts regardless of where they are, who they're with, or what they're doing - is normal. You don't even get a chance to be polite.
I, for one, don't care to hear one side of someone else's phone conversation, but it happens anyway. Neither do I care to be put on virtual hold while they type a message to someone who, unlike me, is not in the room with them. Let's face it: Portable phones have undermined the notion of manners.
As usual, I blame my generation, the Baby Boomers¨. We might have been raised with manners but that doesn't mean we've passed them along.
We are so weird. We'll spend hundreds of dollars on eBay trying to recapture our kidhoods by buying the toys we lost and the baseball cards our mothers threw away. But when it comes to something from the olden days that could actually be useful - using some manners, not to mention some common sense, where phones are concerned - well, we sort of let that one slide.
I realize I sound a bit cranky, and I suppose that is another way to say old. But I'm not, really. I just believe that our lives could all be improved if we remembered our manners and thought about someone other than ourselves once in a while.
I consider it optimistic. And optimism keeps you young. It even helps you make sense of the world, sometimes. I wish I'd known that when I was 9.
I hate dog movies. In dog movies, the good, loyal, lovable dog always dies at the end and I end up sitting there in the dark with big tears streaming down my cheeks.
I’ve not kept it a secret that I find people who dress their dogs in clothes to be, to put it nicely, somewhat more than just eccentric. And many friendly, helpful readers out there have not kept it a secret that they really wish I would not express my views about dogs dressed as humans.
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
It sounds like the plot from a dystopian libertarian novel. The word “patriot” and the phrase “educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights” triggered heightened scrutiny from the most intrusive agency in the federal government.
The action at the bird feeder has been spectacular lately: Cardinals, finches, songbirds in impressive variety crowding around all day long in search of sustenance. It is truly gratifying …
Everyone presumes that Sen. Chuck Schumer, the media-hungry Democrat from New York, wants to be the next Senate majority leader. His performance in the negotiations over the Gang of Eight immigration plan should bolster his case for an eventual promotion.
An NPR broadcast examines the question of how communities can better prepare for tornadoes like the one that struck Moore, Okla. on Monday. The broadcast features commentary from Michael Fitzgerald, who reported a five-part disaster series for the CNHI News Service.
An NPR broadcast examines the question of how communities can better prepare for tornadoes like the one that struck Moore, Okla. on Monday. The broadcast features commentary from Michael Fitzgerald, who reported a five-part disaster series for the CNHI News Service.
Commentary
Discussion
Manners are manners and always will be
By Mike Redmond CNHI
I recently heard a fellow say that old age begins when the world no longer makes sense to you. By that standard, I entered my Golden Years when I was 9.
The remark came as part of a talk on technology, which I'll admit rules our lives in ways we couldn't begin to imagine 20, 10, or even five years ago. But just because I can't figure out how to program my new phone doesn't mean I'm old. It just means I haven't caught up with the latest unnecessary functions from Android World.
Oh, phones. They are a boon to mankind and a bane to our existence, aren't they? They allow us to do a zillion things, including staying in touch with one another, while simultaneously eroding the bedrock of a civilized society.
It all gets down to manners.
I was raised to understand that a person's telephone conversation is privileged, and that a polite person leaves the room when someone takes a call. Also, a polite person doesn't take a call when he or she is engaged in conversation with an actual live human being-type person in the room.
As a kid, I actually found this very confusing: Leave the room when someone's on the phone, but don't answer the phone when someone's in the room? Huh? And that business about phone conversations being privileged? Please. We were on a party line. Anything said on the phone was fair game for the neighbors, and vice versa.
It seemed to me any way you played it, chances are you were going to get into trouble and it was easier just to stay off the phone altogether. Manners are manners and rules are rules and you followed them if you wanted to survive to adulthood.
Today, telephonic portability has rendered the old rules useless, and what used to be seen as intolerably rude - people feeling free to make and take calls or texts regardless of where they are, who they're with, or what they're doing - is normal. You don't even get a chance to be polite.
I, for one, don't care to hear one side of someone else's phone conversation, but it happens anyway. Neither do I care to be put on virtual hold while they type a message to someone who, unlike me, is not in the room with them. Let's face it: Portable phones have undermined the notion of manners.
As usual, I blame my generation, the Baby Boomers¨. We might have been raised with manners but that doesn't mean we've passed them along.
We are so weird. We'll spend hundreds of dollars on eBay trying to recapture our kidhoods by buying the toys we lost and the baseball cards our mothers threw away. But when it comes to something from the olden days that could actually be useful - using some manners, not to mention some common sense, where phones are concerned - well, we sort of let that one slide.
I realize I sound a bit cranky, and I suppose that is another way to say old. But I'm not, really. I just believe that our lives could all be improved if we remembered our manners and thought about someone other than ourselves once in a while.
I consider it optimistic. And optimism keeps you young. It even helps you make sense of the world, sometimes. I wish I'd known that when I was 9.
© 2013 Mike Redmond. All Rights Reserved.
I hate dog movies. In dog movies, the good, loyal, lovable dog always dies at the end and I end up sitting there in the dark with big tears streaming down my cheeks.
May 21, 2013
Mr. President, the buck stops with you.
President Truman set that standard, with these very words posted on a sign on his Oval Office desk.
But now, with over a thousand days left in this second Obama administration, we find a Nixonian stench emerging from the “W. House.”
May 21, 2013
Rarely has the White House briefing room so resembled the main ballroom at a meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference.
May 21, 2013
I’ve not kept it a secret that I find people who dress their dogs in clothes to be, to put it nicely, somewhat more than just eccentric. And many friendly, helpful readers out there have not kept it a secret that they really wish I would not express my views about dogs dressed as humans.
May 17, 2013
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
May 17, 2013
The federal government recently announced new regulations for buying fast food.
May 17, 2013
It sounds like the plot from a dystopian libertarian novel. The word “patriot” and the phrase “educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights” triggered heightened scrutiny from the most intrusive agency in the federal government.
May 17, 2013
The action at the bird feeder has been spectacular lately: Cardinals, finches, songbirds in impressive variety crowding around all day long in search of sustenance. It is truly gratifying …
For my neighbor.
That’s what it’s like at his feeder.
May 14, 2013
On April 27, Dr. Jeff Butts demonstrated a rare form of servant leadership as he participated in the Go Love Indy westside service project.
May 13, 2013
Everyone presumes that Sen. Chuck Schumer, the media-hungry Democrat from New York, wants to be the next Senate majority leader. His performance in the negotiations over the Gang of Eight immigration plan should bolster his case for an eventual promotion.
May 13, 2013
Follow me on Twitter
Will you be attending this year's Indy 500?
Tires
Telecommunications
Beauty Salons
Government
An NPR broadcast examines the question of how communities can better prepare for tornadoes like the one that struck Moore, Okla. on Monday. The broadcast features commentary from Michael Fitzgerald, who reported a five-part disaster series for the CNHI News Service.
May 22, 2013 1 Photo
Complete Report:
Part I: Are We Prepared? | Part II: Disaster Dollars
Part III: Lessons Learned | Part IV: Warning Signs
Part V: The Big One
Moore, Okla., residents talk about living through Monday's EF-5 tornado.
May 23, 2013 1 Photo
An NPR broadcast examines the question of how communities can better prepare for tornadoes like the one that struck Moore, Okla. on Monday. The broadcast features commentary from Michael Fitzgerald, who reported a five-part disaster series for the CNHI News Service.
May 22, 2013 1 Photo
Complete Report:
Part I: Are We Prepared? | Part II: Disaster Dollars
Part III: Lessons Learned | Part IV: Warning Signs
Part V: The Big One
Restaurants in avon
Tires in avon
Telecommunications in avon
Pizza Restaurants in avon
Beauty Salons in avon
Government in avon
Click for More
Powered by Local.com
Site Map
© 2013 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. · CNHI Classified Advertising Network · CNHI News Service
Associated Press content © 2013. All rights reserved. AP content may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Our site is powered by Zope. Some parts of our site may require you to download the Flash Player Plugin.
Privacy Policy | AP News Registry privacy policy
Terms and Conditions
Advertiser Index
Hendricks County Flyer, Avon, IN 8109 Kingston St., Suite 500 Avon, IN 46123