Entitlement

A few weeks ago, my husband and I were coming home from the vet with our very large (and vocal) cat. We were sitting in a long line of traffic waiting - like those ahead of us - to turn left. But this day, we were in a line of about 20, not a few cars. We inched our way towards the light over the next 20 minutes or so with our cat expressing extreme dislike at the whole affair wondering what the hell was going on - a burned out bulb, an accident, what?

Turns out the problem had to do with an ADULT crossing guard who was letting kids cross regardless of the signal. That's right. An adult who should know that when a light is GREEN you wait for it to turn RED before you cross a busy intersection. Instead, whenever a single kid showed up (and as school had just let out there were many kids walking solo and in staggered groups), she would step right out into traffic with her STOP sign and all of us in cars had to stop. Even IF it was a green f'ing light!

Even more telling to me was the fact that even though it was about 25 degrees out, these kids didn't even have coats on. Now I well remember the "cool" kids who refused to wear coats (like it was manly or something to freeze), but this was more than a few - this was like all of them. Probably because they don't have to wait to cross the street.

I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, we didn't even have adult crossing guards. That was left to a selection of us kids - and it was a pretty big deal if you got selected. That there are adults doing this "big" job is another story. But here's the thing: we were taught to look both ways before crossing a street. We didn't just march out into a busy intersection like it was our god given right and that those in the cars would stop for us. And we were also taught to wait for the light to be red. No dumb ass walked out into the middle of a busy street if the light was green.

I've been enraged and totally dumbfounded by the new trend of the past few years of kids just walking out into the street whenever it suits them - whenever it's "convenient" for them to cross. And I now see where they're learning it - from adults who are teaching this to them on a daily basis.

The bigger issue here is not so much the bit about crossing the street - that's just plain stupid - but the teaching of selfish, self absorbed, entitlement. I'm actually angry enough to write the schools, the mayor, and the newspapers because self absorbed entitlement is one of the most fundamental problems today in my so humble opinion. Reality shows and talent shows perpetuate this sort of ignorance that everyone is oh so much more important than the other to the point of walking out in front of a car.

Maybe these adult crossing guards need a "Crossing the Street 101" refresher?! Or maybe when one of the little brats gets hit the seriousness of this will land on someone.