Kindness of Strangers - NOT

Is that joke too 1990s? Probably.


The last time I was pregnant, I discovered people were anything but kind when they encountered a pregnant women. Part of it may have been that they just assumed I was fat, not pregnant. But I really do think there's an attitude problem out there. Don't get me wrong, people have always been jerks. I just feel like it's more overt and more acceptable nowadays. (Imagine me shaking a cane while saying this.)

Yesterday, The Targo stayed home with Nathan. He got his flu vaccine that morning, and we didn't know how he'd feel going to daycare afterward, so we just kept him home. It's good that we did, because the poor munchkin seemed to have some terrible tummy virus too. He's fine today, thankfully. But the poor, poor Targo... there were a lot of pull-ups changed. A LOT. As a result of this long back story, I took the train to and from work.

On the way there, people shoved me out of the way to get on the train. Whatever, typical rush hour commute. There was nothing horribly micro-insulty, it was just annoying. On the way home, however, the annoyance sky-rocketed. I'm sure part of it is that I'm tired and my tolerance level is way (way) low. When I got to the bus stop, I was one of three people. By the time the bus came, naturally, there were 20 people. I was one of the last people to get on, not a big deal really, but a young man (about 15 or 16 years of age) shoved his way on, in front of the big fat pregnant lady and three or four elderly people. When I got on the bus, I was right across from him (naturally, he had a seat) and he was bragging to his pal, another high school boy, asking him if he saw him weasel his way onto the bus in front of everyone else. His buddy giggled and high-fived him. Of course.

Seriously?

Affirmation #2,305 that I want to raise my son to have manners. Why is it a good thing to be a rude schmuck? I think we mamas of boys have a real tough task ahead of us.