Slowly Going The Way of the Buffalo...

... respect, is. I see it everyday, walking through the streets of quite possibly the smallest city in the country. You have a green light while you drive, and some disgustingly obese woman feels the need to walk out in front of you, eagerly trying to get to the donut shop before it closes for the day. As you walk up an alley or two to get to your place of work, empty beer bottles, food containers with last night's puked up remains are strewn across the pavement. Some miscreants are even heroic enough to use their keys to scratch their tags into the large windows of your studio, costing roughly $2500 to replace each one.

People are being taught that 'its a dog-eat-dog world,' and you've got to have the biggest teeth. They're being taught to take what they can, when they can. Motives and crimes of opportunity. Vandalizers, drunken college baffoons and litterbugs are jeopardizing my current mood. I go outside for a smoke break and am asked for loose change on a daily basis. How can I help someone who doesn't want to help themselves? Plus, I work hard for goddamned money - handing it off to you is completely counterproductive. I still treat them like a human being, but will not allow them to get one cent out of me.

How about people who blast their radios/cd players in their cars at ear-drum-blowing decibels? In neighborhoods, too.

Maybe its just a part of growing up. Maybe you need to get your skull crushed against the pavement a few times to learn your lesson. Because if you are a practicioner of any foul deeds listed above, I can assure your time is coming soon. Not by me, no, no way, but some other disgruntled, more-muscular meathead who has a nasty case of roadrage, or is taking steroids which make him feel invisible. Can I smell a YouTube video coming?

I'll quote Samuel Johnson to wrap this rant up: "The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good." Be the better man. Grow some balls and learn respect before you get your teeth kicked in by the wrong person. Care about the environment and the people around you, even if you don't know them. What goes around comes around.