I've just returned from a shopping trip on a Saturday morning in an everyday, mid sized British city and have decided to opt out of the Human rat-race and take to the hills at full speed.
Am I the only person left truly "alive" or are there others out there who have noticed the alarming deteriorisation of basic Human social and motor skills?
Does anyone else sense the impending breakdown of social order and inter-social behaviour it has taken eons to establish and refine? I don't mean political or legal order, but rather natural skills of action and response that allow us to function in communities in whatever country or society we inhabit.
I once watched an intriguing programme analysing Human beings’ amazing ability to be aware of their immediate physical space and be able therefore to move and function at speed in crowded areas without a bloodbath pile-up. A high camera demonstrated how we can weave and wind through a crowded rail terminus with ant-like skill.
Though Creationists support the quaint notion of human life being in the region of 10000 years, the more developed brain knows this to be wildly underestimated. Whether the former or the latter is "true", isn't it fair to assume that we are a socially advanced, intelligent life form that, with our super-techno, faster than light, yesterday is history "development", might we not be improving on the aforementioned skills?
WRONG!
We, and by that I mean everyone who pissed me off with their selfish, ego-centric, under-developed, tiny brain powered, zero-empathetic presence on said trip, are regressing at such an alarming rate that I fear we will all be confined (for safety) to our keyboards as our only means of safe, social interaction. The day is coming when we simply can't be trusted with going out for fear of being trampled or of us harming someone else.
Firstly, there are too many of us! Stop breeding and give everyone some space. Roads are clogged from dawn till dusk and for those who still remember we have legs and feet, the pavements are not much better. Why twentysomethings, or even younger, feel the need to multiply their questionable genealogy at the rate of one or two per available breeding period is beyond me. Worse, why drag them all along at once, side by side, spewing and sprawling and clogging any available walkway without the slightest thought that other people have a physical space entitlement too? That key parenting skill in showing acceptable behaviour, - awareness of self in case of harm ( to self or others ) has apparently deserted the androidesque "children of Thatcher". They, the hollow, dead-eyed, mask make-upped, aggressively set-faced drones, assume a pathway to whatever goal to which they aim will cut a swathe before them as they push their over wide, fat wheeled, shiny paintwork kid carriers with two or three "outriders" on legs directly at oncoming pedestrians. The same drones, once dispossessed of kids, hop into the motorised equivalent of the pushchair - the 4 x 4 with bull bars ( lest there be wandering wildebeest in our city centres), and behave in exactly the same manner on the highway!
Jump for your life if they are on a mission and are travelling at speed, but even worse if they are dawdling. The litter of humanity that gets under one's feet has surely caused more high blood pressure, sudden spine-wrenching, ankle-breaking incidents than an emergency evacuation of a football stadium.
Then they stop! Where? At the narrowest point on the path of course. Right by the bin or the scaffolding or between the illegally parked car and the queue for the badly sited ATM, the doorway of a shop, or the claustrophobic aisle of a busy shop.
Why there? They all do it now. The ability to think one step further has gone!
At last you get to the check out! A queue? No matter, we have developed skills of patience and respect to deal with delays haven't we? NO!!! She, three punters in front, now has to "negotiate" with one of the brats over the latter's screaming demand for this week's must have teeth rotting, fat creating goo It must have. Little darling has to be gently and caringly persuaded that Mummy is far too busy to deal with this and darling must make up its mind and decide on an alternative (that makes mummy look health conscious) that the nice shop lady will go and get for it! We must all look on, roll our eyes in sympathy and respect "darling's" behaviour as acceptable. NO!! Slap the little sod and make it aware of the fact that other people exist!
God I need a coffee! A few free tables but they are cluttered with dirty cups, presumably left over from a chimps tea party. You sit down.... and wait.... and wait... and finally some oik grunts something at you. Order gets taken ( you assume), but oik disappears without taking any scussy crockery, only to return with warm milk when cold was ordered, and the cup is slapped down spilling contents and dislodging crusted, badly positioned spoon. Then they expect a tip! NOT!!
When did this all go astray? What happened to parental responsibility to teach manners, consideration and respect? No, not schools, PARENTS!!
When did everyone become so important that there was no time for the feelings and space of others? WHAT'S THE BLOODY RUSH?
I fear we are, as a race, getting to the point where this appalling self-important, "my needs are greater" attitude is the norm. Good manners, awareness and respect for others as well as oneself are being genetically de-programmed by each new generation. The less they were taught about non-feral behaviour, the less they pass on.
You try it! Go out on a Saturday mid to late morning and OBSERVE! Am I right?