The Demise of Civility

As I get older, I become more convinced that people are not nearly as kind and thoughtful toward others as they used to be.  Perhaps this is just a natural part of getting older but I really don't think so.  I've thought about ways to quantify this but its one of those things that just cannot be measured.

All I can offer is anecdotal evidence but it does seem that everywhere I look, I see people being uncivil toward others.  Yesterday I was watching the PGA golf tournament on television.  The crowds at golf tournaments used to be famous for their  polite demeanor; not any more.  They yell, they taunt the players, and generally act like asses.

Although I haven't been a ham radio operator all that many years, I'm told by old timers that the airwaves are full of language that would not have been there forty years ago.  In fact, I was quite surprised when I got my amateur license at how much "CB" type discourse is out there.  I had always believed that amateur radio was a "genteel" hobby where everyone respected everyone else - not so!

Politics has always been a nasty business.  If you study historical news events, you find outrageous behavior among politicians from the very beginning of time.  However, it seems that our leaders have gotten to the point where they really do hate their opponents and try their best to "demonize" them.  Has this change in political behavior led to a polarization of our society or is it merely a reflection of it?  I really don't know.

What are the reasons for this loss of civility?  Like many other problems we face today, these values are not being taught at home anymore.  Our children are learning today that aggressive behavior is rewarded and those who are pacifistic are stomped on.  Public education occasionally makes a foray into this area (example: the "campaign" against bullying), but this effort ultimately cannot be successful without support from parents.

As I've told many people, I'm at an awkward stage in my life; I can remember being embarrassed when my Dad said the World was going to hell in a hand basket, but I'm now old enough to believe its true!

Changing My Address

Because Louise and I travel quite a bit, sometimes for extended periods, we have had problems with getting our mail forwarded.  We either had to get the Post Office to do it (which they don't like to do) or we had to beg someone to go get our mail, put it in an envelope, and send it to us.

Just before our last major outing to South Texas in December, our box rent became due at the Post Office and we decided to use that as a reason to make a change.  Our son, Dan, had owned a UPS Store in Sapulpa several years ago and we knew that they rented out private mailboxes.  We went down to the local UPS Store in Sand Springs, paid them a little money, and had a new address!

Part of our logic was that they would forward our mail to us on demand and, in fact, they did this very well.  While we were in South Texas, all I had to do was send them an email and they would gather up all our mail, put it in an envelope, and forward it to us, all for a very nominal charge.  Another part of our decision was that Louise would be in Prattville (Sand Springs) frequently to see the grand kids so it wouldn't be an inconvenience to pick up the mail when we were in town.  This part of the deal is also working quite well.

What I didn't consider was the work required to notify all the people who exchange mail with us that we have a new address!  I have spent a considerable amount of time in this effort since December and I believe that I'm about through with it.  And its not just the initial change; several of the companies we have dealings with (insurance companies, doctors, etc) haven't been able to get the address right on the first try so we have to do it over.

The other day, I sat down to get caught up on QSL cards and realized that I had about 500 cards with the wrong address on them.  For you non-hams, a QSL card is used to confirm a radio contact between two amateur radio operators.  Recently, there have become many ways to confirm a radio contact electronically but a lot of people still prefer the cards.

At any rate, I used a few of my old cards by printing stickers with our new address information, but this was a pain in the rear!  So, yesterday I decided to have some new cards printed.  The first task was to find a picture for the front of the card.  Because of copyright laws, I decided that I wanted a picture which I had taken so I wouldn't have to worry about someone challenging my right to use it.

When Louise and I were in Louisiana in March, I had taken a picture of an owl which turned out pretty fair so I decided to use it.  In case you are wondering where I'm going with this,  its all an excuse to show you my new QSL card!