[redwitch]

To me, it isn't the politeness. It is the fact that I remember the day when a handshake was all that was needed. Heck, you didn't even need the handshake, if you said you were doing something, it was considered done because it would be. Now, even a signed contract is just a way to get out of doing something. There are enough backout clauses to choke a horse. Our kids are taught that they aren't to blame for the broken window -- the Louisville Slugger was just made wrong and gave you too much power so the ball went through the window; the homework was too hard or too long and that's the teacher's fault. Worse yet, after the excuses are made for the child, the parent works hard to get their kid out of trouble -- sues the manufacturer, demands that the teacher make the homework easier, shorter or raise the grade for the slipshod work that was turned in.

Friends will plan to meet and then cancel because something better came along. Marriages break up because one half has gotten older and something newer has come along or one is bored. Competitors will go out of their way to steal another's customers. Businesspeople will come as close to possible to skirting the law as possible or even flat out break the law and just assume they won't be caught or get off with a slap of the wrist if they are (sadly, they're usually right, too).

From what I have seen, morals and values have declined. Not just for the younger generation but for ours and our parents. I've actually be called old-fashioned because if I say I am going to do something, I do it if at all humanly possible. When I do a job, I do the absolute best I can. And if I don't do it right, I do it again. My word is my bond -- it is for my child, my friends, my neighbors, strangers. I know there are others like me, I've met them. But, lately, I've met more that take the moral shortcuts than otherwise. It saddens me.