November 26, 2018 – Click here to listen
I watched YouTube for about an hour the other day and could not believe the fights over Black Friday merchandise. Women pulling each other’s hair and ripping each other’s clothes off as they rolled around on the floor fighting over cookware; men duking it out and knocking over displays. It was at times hilarious, but deeply troubling.
I heard a left-winger sympathizer say that if it these folks were making more money they wouldn’t fight over items on sale. Do you suppose it is an income issue? Or do you suppose it is a case of people waiting in line since 3 a.m. and when finally allowed in they find the item they desire, and someone just walks up and tries to take it away from them.
I was in India at the airport one time and I was waiting for an airline attendant to open her work station, so I could make a change to my ticket. She finally did so and suddenly an entire horde of people descended upon her and there was no semblance of a line. People were just elbowing their way to the front. I had been waiting in line for an hour and was not about to be elbowed out. I was about a foot taller and much larger in stature and I got right in there amongst them pushing and shoving my way to the counter. Oddly everyone seemed to just take it in stride. As I traveled throughout India, I discovered that not forming lines and patiently awaiting one’s turn was the norm and not the exception for their culture.
I thought this was odd and rather primitive and uncivilized at the time, but it looks like the law of the jungle where only the strongest survive is becoming the new normal for this culture. Uncivilized means uncouth, coarse, rough, boorish, vulgar, uneducated, uncultured, uncultivated, unsophisticated, impolite and bad-mannered. The fights of Walmart seem to epitomize this phenomenon; however, the Judge Kavanaugh hearings were all conducted by people wearing suits. I don’t think money has anything to do with it aside from the setting maybe.
Civility is the act of showing regard for others by being polite. I was in New York one day and stopped in a deli with its menu on the wall. I was reading the menu while standing in line and when the person in line in front of me ordered I was still looking at the menu. The guy processing the orders snarled at me, “Either place your order or get the hell out of here?” I will not repeat what I said to him, but it was not civil.
In my lifetime I have seen a tremendous decline in civility. I don’t like it and I don’t want to be a part of the problem. However, the question becomes do you allow uncivil people to bully you, or do you fight back. I’ve always disliked bullies and have smacked more than one to his knees, but did that do anything to modify their behavior? I don’t think the guy in New York changed anything concerning his behavior and I’m sure he doesn’t even remember it. I wonder if he would remember it if I had said, God bless you young man, sorry to keep you waiting.
Proverbs 25:23
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you. As the north wind brings forth rain, so a backbiting tongue brings angry looks . . .