There are many signs that things just aren’t what they used to be.
While oldsters lament about the good old days, it doesn’t take a senior citizen to recognize that our culture is coarser, folks less friendly, with less fun and color than it was just 25 years ago. Society seems depressingly dark and dreary. Even stories about our future are bleak.
I’m beginning to feel like I might like to move someplace else. But where? Newt Gingrich’s Moon colony? Hey, I’d sure love it, but then we live in a society that has neither visionary leaders nor funds to stake out new frontiers. So, it’s back to living here in the dreary moment of 2012 and hoping the next person I meet will be free of tattoos and not attempt to part me from my wallet.
My friend John agrees with this take on our eroding civil society.
Forget pop culture and the U.S. Congress and Senate. Look at the public, commercial sector we inhabit as being the canary in the coalmine.
There are so many stories I could use to buttress my thesis of an uncivil capitalism; here are just two:
Take John’s recent go-round with a Florida real-estate agent via the telephone.
While John was looking to invest in a retirement condominium, he became upset with a realtor who seemed to be more interested in her personal playtime and making an immediate sale than in doing a little extra work to make a sale.
John repeatedly left phone voice messages with the agent during the late morning hours, that is, when it was convenient for him–the potential customer–to call Florida. No return calls were in the offing.
Then one day, the excited agent called to say she found John the perfect condo by the water. Great. But when he inquired about getting more details–specifically what heavy objects, such as a security safe, could be accommodated on an upper-floor unit–the agent gave what seemed like an audible sigh over the phone.
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