Nikki Lee Health

I was waiting at the intersection for the light to change, and watching the traffic move through the light.  A man in a BMW convertible let fly with a string of profanities, aimed at the driver in front of him, a woman who stopped, shocked, stuck her head out the window, and asked, “What?”  I didn’t observe any breach of traffic rules, yet the man behind her was clearly irritated. He shook his head at her question, and she kept driving.

Behaviors manifested by this example of hit-and-run rudeness are common. I am regularly insulted on my Facebook page and on Twitter and on blogs by people disagreeing with my comments. Instead of sincere questions leading to discussion and possible connection and understanding, some respond with “What an idiot.” or “How stupid”  or “What a jerk you are to be so wrong” and never engage in any sort of adult conversation.  They can get away with rudeness, as they are immune to any consequence in this electronic age of anonymity.

Distance often opens the door to rudeness. My first experience of this was working in a Health Center that was part of a health system; the system had been bought and sold many times by companies who were headquartered in states far from the Center. I had 6 W-2s for the same job that year., and remember asking, “Who do we work for this week?”  When the last company took over, none of us were ever informed about personnel policies. I eventually resigned; there was no one to give an exit interview, as no one knew who was in charge. As a worker taking immense pride in my commitment and work, this was annoying and discouraging.

Political candidates engage in thoughtless rudeness without any protest by media; what will our children learn?

I am finding the death of courtesy to be alarming and worrisome. Such behavior is now commonplace during this never-ending election. Courtesy is necessary for people, especially when they are strangers to each other,  to live peacefully. Our children are learning to be thoughtless of others; what will their lives be like?

What do you all think?