Kids these days

I don't normally study on campus. I get distracted by the mobs of people and end up watching them instead of reading and writing. I should have known better than to sit down in a busy lobby this morning

Sitting across from me was a young boy in the eight-to-ten age bracket. His mother ate breakfast with him and then went to her class around the corner.

I don't know her situation. Maybe her babysitter cancelled at the last minute. Maybe he's on spring break. I don't really have a problem with him being there - he seems quite well-behaved. Every ten minutes or so he gets up so he can peek around the corner and see his mother in her classroom. Sometimes he waves excitedly, having successfully caught her eye through the glass. It's an adorable moment.

I'm distracted by this kid. He's all over the place and I would rather watch something interesting than read the article for class later today.

He's chatting with multiple people on facebook.

He's watching wrestling - and it looked enough like porn that I was worried for a moment. Too much flesh.

Now he's Skyping. Loudly. In a lobby full of people trying to study. He's probably speaking more loudly than usual because he has headphones on. Three people have given him a death glare. Now he's repeating a phone number out loud. I was wondering in my head if I should warn him not to repeat important numbers in a room full of strangers when he shrieks, "Bitch!"

I'm not sure if he realizes that even though he has headphones on, we can still hear him. And everyone heard him. No one knows what to do. After the stunned seconds elapse, the lobby regains some of its natural hubbub. Some students pack up and leave.

One of my students who was sitting across the lobby eating breakfast with a friend stopped to talk to me about this kid. "Is he swearing at other six year olds on Skype? This next generation needs help."
 
I agreed with him. I know that every generation has said that about the next. But that doesn't mean it hasn't been true and isn't true. That random kid doesn't know that it isn't ok to scream obscenities in a public place. He doesn't know that "bitch" isn't a term that should be given to a person. He doesn't know how to respect humanity in his world of electronics.

We live in a world where people ask, "do you know who I am?" Because they think that a specific identity gives them importance. It shouldn't. No one, no matter who they are, deserves abuse. That young girl on the other end of the Skype connection should not grow up thinking that verbal abuse is normal.

I had to leave before his mother came back. I wonder if I would have had the courage to speak to her.

I'm sorry, y'all. This blog has become a bit didactic in the past couple of posts. I'll get back to being amusing soon.