Recently as I was walking to class through the parking lot I noticed a deodorant container resting on the ground. Middle school is the age that puberty usually kicks in and that means that the standard smells of unwashed bodies are enhanced by what we call body odor or BO. That is a fact of life that has not changed since we were in school.
What has changed is the acceptable behavior. When you and I were young we took baths and prepared our bodies to go out in public by washing, anointing and covering while we were in the bedroom or bathroom at home. In fact, I still do it that way. I don’t usually get dressed in the living room or put on deodorant on the front porch. Maybe you are different. Students today certainly are.
It is not unusual to see a student pull out a bottle, hike up their shirt and begin to swab their armpits. Applying nail polish is mainstream. It is not considered strange to change your pants in the middle of class. I kid you not. It is even worse when they use a spray bottle for deodorant or cologne.
At the same time the student who remembered their deodorant and has enough gum to make ten trips to the trash can forgot to bring their textbook. Usually these are the same students.
Picture the future. You will be sitting in a restaurant giving your order to the waitress and she starts to paint her fingernails. You will be expected to wait until she is happy with the results. And hope she isn’t doing it French style.
homo unius libri
I have to wonder if parents still teach their children about respect for others and themselves. My children, who are now swiftly passing middle age, would not only have felt shame at such actions in a schoolroom setting, but would also have had a healthy fear of the consequences.
ReplyDeleteWhat is taught today is that everyone is supposed to respect you no matter how foolish you act. At the same time you owe no courtesy to others. It is one element that contributes to the kind of thing we are seeing in Baltimore.
DeleteGrace and peace
Another instance of common sense being not-so-common these days.
ReplyDeleteCommon sense requires some sense and honesty, both of which are lacking.
DeleteGrace and peace.