At the start of 2015 I thought I would do a top 10 type list, well two list, the first being trends that really bother me and the second being a list of trends I would like to see.
Trends I would like to see changed:
1. Sleepy Pants: People going out in public in sleepy pants. Come on, its OK to wear them in the house or even to walk out to get the news paper, heck, you could even wear them as you sit on your front deck drinking your morning cup of joe. But to go to the mall in pajamas, really, is that necessary? I ask you why on earth would you want to be seen in public like that? Maybe its me, maybe I’m old and stuffy, but I just don’t get it. I have even seen kids going to school like that.. Ummm, nope, not in my house…..
2. Road side Memorials: I think this whole trend has gotten out of hand. It seems to me that you can hardly drive down the street without seeing 3 or 4 of them. Flowers tied to a tree, photos taped to a street sign, i even saw a bike painted white chained to a street sign with stuffed animals and flowers and cards plastered all over it. OK, I get it, people need a change to mourn, to show respect, but when did this need become a need for public display? I don’t get it, I never have, and I am sure I never will.
3. My child is an angel: This one really gets me… Some kid in some city gets killed. The reasons could be many, gang retaliation, street fight, drug deal gone bad, what ever the reason (excluding the innocent by-standers and such), it is the norm now for everyone to elevate the dead child to saint status. Wait! What! The kid was in a gang, dealing drugs or whatever… They ain’t no saint! Look I am sorry for your loss, I truly am. I hate to see any child, hell, any person get killed. Its sad and senseless, I get that. I also get that we, the public didn’t know your child, but really, saint status? Don’t go on TV and tell us they were such a good boy. They never hurt nobody. Come on…
4. Playing the Race card: I know this one may get me into some hot water, but it has to be said. Not everything a white man does is racist… If I don’t like President Obama (and I don’t) it’s not because I am a racist, it’s because I am a conservative, I truly think Obama is out to “fundamentally Change this country” into something I do not want to see. Nothing to do with race… If I think voter ID is a good idea (and I do), it’s not because I want to stop Americans from voting, it’s because I want to stop non-Americans from voting. It has nothing to with hating immigrants or keeping the inner city blacks from voting, it has nothing to do with race, it has everything to do with keeping America safe and free. If I think welfare needs to be cut back and revamped (and I do) its not because I want to hold the black man down and keep them “in there place”, because I don’t , but what I do want is a system that does not create lifers. Welfare should be a stepping stone, not a lifestyle. Race has nothing to do with it, my conservative values do.
5. Look at me: The selfie has gotten way out of control, we are a nation of narcissus, look at me has become the mantra of the younger generation. How many photos of yourself can you have and take, and truly, how many are needed? I really don’t care to see your face in every photo you take, and I truly don’t want to see that stupid pouting lip selfie that is supposed to look sexy. really it doesn’t, in fact it looks stupid and silly!
6. Cell phone dependency: Do we really need our cell phones on us every second of every day? Do we really need to sleep with it and take it out to dinner? I think not. Funny thing is, I grew up without one and I was able to function. Odd I know, but it is true. How many times have you gone out to dinner to see a family at a table, all of them on their phones, chatting or playing games or even watching a video or movie? Really, this is family time? Why not set a rule, no phones when we are together, I know I have this rule, and its a struggle to get my nephews to follow it. But I will take the phones away if I have to, and they know it… We have a generation of kids that can not function with out a cell phone, they don’t know how to communicate face-to-face. Sad, it really is…. Its time to turn of the phone and turn on the conversation.
7. The word Epic: Come on, not everything is epic, in-fact not everything can be epic, because it was, then nothing would be. I really hate the word now, it is over used and no-longer has any meaning or value. Just stop it! Now that would be epic!
I am sure there are more trends I dislike, but at the moment I can’t think of them… So onto the trends I would like to see started:
Trends I would like to see:
1. The art of being a man: I would love to see more men opening doors for lady’s and pulling out chairs. The are of being a man has been lost. Boys have lost there way along the path to manhood. They been told to be less like a man and more like a, well I don’t know, metro-sexual? Not sure if that;s the description I want to use, but it works for now. I don’t know how else to state this, so here it is, Boys/Men are different from Girls/Women. Plain and simple, we are wired differently, therefore we react differently, and we should be allowed to do so. In the quest for equality we have watered down manhood and made it personhood, sorry, but nope that’s not good enough. We are men, and we should act like it. Men do not hit women, but we do hold doors open for them. Men offer the last seat on the bus to a lady and they refrain from talking about certain things in front of a lady. basically, we need to look to our past, like the 1950’s and back, to see how a man acts. We need to rekindle that manly spirit and foster it in ourselves and our young boys, so they can grow to be young men.
2. Ladies acting like, well a lady: re-read the fist trend, they go hand in hand. It is hard for a man to be manly when a lady id not very lady like. I know this may sound sexist, but Ladies should not cuss like a sailor, nor dress like a tramp. The old saying is true, we do judge a book by its cover, right or wrong, we do. We to re-thing what we expect of our young girls, is it really OK for a 12-year-old to dress like she is ready for the street corner? Do we really want to teach our young girls that they are the same as young boys? They are not! Now don’t get me wrong, they deserve respect and every opportunity to succeed, but boys and girls are different, and should be dealt with differently. They should expect and demand that they are treated with respect from every young boy/man they come across. They should expect and demand that they are not treated like or made to feel like an object to be toyed with. Once again we need to look back to our past, hold on… back off, I am not saying they need to learn how to be good little house wives, but what I am saying is they need to learn that there is nothing wrong with that.
3. Faith and Community: We need to return to our roots as a nation, we need to rebuild the communities we live in. Now I am not talking about building new houses and such, I am talking a community of people. Back in the day we lived and played in out communities, we knew our neighbors and had block parties, we sat on the front porch and talked to whom ever wandered by. Today we have our privacy fences up, we sit in the house with the drapes closed and never venture out. What ever happened to the community? Back in the day the local churches where active in the community, offering dances for the youth and socials for the family. In today’s world of mega churches, its different. Sure they may have dances and socials, but really, how many of the members of the mega church live and play in your community? We use to have community centers, a place to go to for activities, we didn’t need to be driven, we could walk, play and return home for dinner.
4. Family Dinner: Yep, we need to return to the good old fashion everyone at the table eating dinner all at the same time, without the TV on and the cellphones. The family dinner was the time to enjoy conversation, to find out how the day went and to learn about each-other. This is were kids learn how to interact with adults, this is how they learn to talk and hold conversations, and its also where they learn boundaries. This is the chance for parents to learn how the school day went, who is dating who and what the new fad is. A time to learn about their friends and their life.
5. Mister/Miss: I think its time we got back to titles, I see nothing wrong with a child being told to call someone Mister Sposite, hey I am even OK with Mister Paul, but the title shows respect and lets the child know we are not on the same level. That I am an adult and you are not. I do not like it when a kid calls me just Paul, to me its to informal, and to personal. I am not your little buddy from down the street, I am an adult, sure I may like ya, I may even be friendly, but I am still an adult. Kids in my life can call me one of two things, based on the level of closeness, 1. Mr. Paul or 2. Uncle Paul. Now several kids that are extremely close to me or the family choose to call me Uncle Paul, and I am good with that, but I would not allow a random kid to do so, they would have to use the Mister title. I also think it is important that we, the adults, also show the respect of titles to them, when referring to other adults we should use the Mister or Miss title.
There are several more trends I would like to see, but for now this list is a good start. Let me know what you think…
God Bless
Paul Sposite
An American Point of View 