It's the end of civility as we know it

1. Congressman Joe Wilson
2. Tennis champion Serena Williams
3. Award-winning musician Kanye West

What do these 3 people have in common? Their filter has stopped working. And apparently, they have forgotten how to sincerely apologize. Emily Post would be mortified. The rest of us are...well, not really all that shocked. I'm not sure when it happened - when we went from a polite nation of handwritten thank you cards to quickly typed, un-proofed emails...from accepting invitations for dinner to just dropping in on people on a Saturday morning...from listening and understanding to waiting until the other person is finished so we can get out what we want to say...from voicing an opinion in an appropriate atmosphere to blurting it out at the first opportunity. Is this really the society we live in? My husband refers to it as having a "me moment" but wherever I am - from the grocery store to the theater, it feels like we're all having "me moments"...all the time. It feels more like a "me lifestyle". And I'm not sure that benefits anyone except for maybe me, but that's only until the planet implodes from oil spills and drains clogged with Kroger bags and the extinction of deer. (If deer become extinct, you know we are really screwed). I know that I don't have a lot of room to talk. I once stole the Emily Post Guide to Good Manners from the Western Hills High School library - and yes, Mrs. Stanley, I'm REALLY sorry about that. I would even apologize to the House chambers. However, I would like to think that I learned from that and moved on, moved forward, learned to play nice with others and voice my concerns with a cooler, more logical head.

What makes this country great is that we can have an opinion. We can get on a bus bound for Washington D.C. and make several stops along the way just to proclaim how inadequate we think our president is. How do you think that would go over in...say...Iran? They shoot first and ask questions later for stuff like that. We do not proclaim "God Save Obama!" on a routine basis. And quite frankly, I haven't heard of anyone being prosecuted for treason in a really long time. So, we are allowed our concerns, our frustrations, our opinions without much reprimand. But there is such a thing as "crossing the line." It's just that some of have moved the line back about 10 feet and that's bound to piss off any line judge. It is my sincere hope that we will all take a moment to think about our neighbor...to think first, then act. Because if we end up carrying the heads of livestock around on pitchforks, I will just move to England. They have horrible weather, but wonderful manners.