Unaware is a word that adequately describes most of my early morning encounters with people at our local Walmart store.  I find myself engaged in a human obstacle course as I try to squeeze my shopping cart between workers stocking the shelves while they are actively carrying on conversations with fellow workers two to three aisles away.  It would appear that many of these stockers have never heard of the phrase “excuse me,” or ever been taught to “keep to the right” so others might pass.

    Oh yes, there are one or two who have been most kind and aware of people around them…but they are a precious few.  Generally, people seem to live in a self-absorbed bubble which makes them unaware of outside factors.  Perhaps it is a product of too many hours on earphones.  Whatever the cause may be, far too many people in our society are totally unaware of others around them.  A good evidence of this are the several individuals I have personally seen walk into a stationary object because their eyes were looking at their phones and their hearing was impeded by ear buds.

    Throughout the day we are reminded of this unawareness as we are stopped suddenly in an aisle by someone who wants to stand there and talk on his cell phone, or by those who meet friends and stand and block the entire aisle as they talk.  I’ve even had people motion to me to go around…find another aisle or path to the front.  Perhaps a logical invention and next step would be to pass a law requiring people to wear turn signals on their shoulders so other store patrons can be aware of their intentions…much like drivers of cars do.

    I am reminded of that famous scene in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, when the teens take the parking space of an older driver and laugh about it until the older driver smashes their car and says, “I have more insurance than you do!”  I see the competition on parking lots many times as people try to beat another person to the space.  The sad thing is that just this past week, two men met to agree to a solution over their fight for a parking space and one shot and killed the other.  His parking space is now in jail, and a life is lost forever.

    I continue to say that these events are a natural outcome of an action we took long ago in our country.  The Ten Commandments were a wonderful reminder to all students growing up that we have laws protecting us, but a right attitude in the heart commands that we love others as we love ourselves.  Why should we be shocked at the shootings, abuses, etc. when we have removed this long-standing moral standard from the education of our students?  I’ve seen many students in the past twenty years who have no moral compass at all.  It is so frightening that much of this was also predicted in a book that was sent to me as a school superintendent about twenty-five years ago called Children Without a Conscience.  Every day I see the predictions of this book as reality in life and the daily news media.

    I will do my part to overcome this “unawareness syndrome” by teaching my students and families and staff to use manners and to care about others.  I will continue to expect, and if necessary, to demand that in our school, manners, kindness, and caring are the norm.  This isn’t easy since such behaviors aren’t the product of “nature” but are the results of the “nurture” children receive.  

    I stated in a previous blog that I do believe the loud talking and noisy behaviors of today are a direct result of the almost constant use of earphones by people in our society.  I told my students thirty years ago that I should invest in the hearing aid stocks because of the long term results I saw coming.  I didn’t invest, but I have read of the noteworthy hearing loss among our present-day youth.  It is significant.                                   

                                                                                 Kay