The End of Civility

Beware- this is another rant, which- now that I think about it- might be in direct contradiction to the whole message of this post.  But so be it.

Yesterday, my mother and I took my daughter to see her first pseudo-production of the Nutcracker.  Basically, it was the second act minus the pretty swan boats and dreamy prince.  It was produced by her dance company and we were all excited.  The night before, in reviewing the tickets, I realized that it was not being held at the high school performance space where previous recitals had been staged but, instead, at the local rec center.  Really?  Ballet at the rec center?  I was dubious about those two phrases even belonging in the same context but we went.  Enthusiastically.

When we got there, we soon realized that the performance would be held in a community room of a space and all the seats were flat on the floor.  Meaning, that if you're shorter than 5 foot you can't see anything but backs and heads seated past the first five rows.  Big bummer.  Especially to someone whose age is in single digits and whose height equals approximately 46 inches. 

After struggling with the where-to-sit-to-see conundrum, we decided on the back row where my daughter could scoot her chair somewhat out into the aisle.  Her dance teacher from last year was there with her two daughters and thought that this was a fabulous idea and proceeded to do the same.  We had created a midget seating section with unobstructed views, not bothering anyone.  Or so we thought.

No sooner had we gotten the girls settled, a woman- A FULL ON ADULT WOMAN- scooted her chair into the aisle as well and then started complaining that the girls were blocking her view.  Really?  You are going to complain about being obstructed by a 5, 7, and 8 year old in the back row?  I gave her a bit of stink eye and simply stated, "really? they're so short."  She looked ticked but complained no more.  However, the exchange left a really bad taste in my mouth.  What is wrong with our culture when, instead of thinking first of letting a group of girls enjoy a performance and perhaps experiencing just a bit of inconvenience, her thought was "what about me?" 

And don't even get me started on all the Black Friday shopping stories.  At least no one was killed this year, at least that I heard of.  I blame my recent pessimistic view of the world on a viewing of Contagion which outlined in horrendous detail what would happen if there was a shortage of resources (those who saw it know what I'm talking about).  But, really, whatever happened to common civility?  I'm worried.