A few minutes in the parking lot of a bustling mall in Rio this week were enough to come face to face, at least twice, with the lack of manners in people. It took no more than that to convince me once and for all that the problem of humanity starts at the cradle; in education, or rather, the lack thereof. First, I watched in astonishment as the car of an upper-middle-class family parked in a space designated for the physically disabled. My jaw dropped when I saw the father, with the utmost audacity, step out of the luxury car, along with the complicit mother and their two beautiful children. And what a sight, none of them seemed to have any disability whatsoever. Could this be the 'I can do anything because I have enough money in my bank account' syndrome? Education sends its regards!
Turning the corner was all it took to witness another unbelievable scene: one car against the other in the same aisle. Naturally, one was in the right lane, and the other in the wrong. Guess who thought the wrong one was right and simply refused to move, turning chaos into what was already a mess. Education also sends its regards to him!
Another example happened just yesterday, again in a mall (definitely a breeding ground for the uneducated). I was in line to pay for my two cheese rolls when suddenly, out of nowhere, someone appeared before me, already handing money to the cashier. I was so shocked at the time that I ended up without a reaction. What saved me was the cashier herself, who had to inform the rude individual that I was in line first. Can you believe it? People who don't say please, thank you, bless you, excuse me; who answer their phones in the cinema; who steal someone else's parking spot; who pee in the airplane aisle; who enter the elevator without letting those exiting first; who listen to music and watch videos on their phones, without headphones, in places with other people; who talk loudly; who run red lights and so forth... Well, for these people, education also sends its regards.
And many of them! From what I've seen, things are going from bad to worse. The lack of manners has reached the maximum level. Intolerable, unbearable for a healthy social coexistence. Honestly, I don't know where this will end. One thing I know: no one leaves my house without manners. At less than two years old, my son already says bless you when someone sneezes. And he apologizes when he messes up. I hope he serves as an example for other children and for many adults too, who, by the way, tend to be terrible examples.
This chronicle was published in the book Singles 7, in Dec/2015.
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