Lack of Civility

When did it become acceptable to be uncivil?  To be rude?

It seems like in this day & age, rudeness is not only acceptable, it is encouraged and excused!  "Oh...  he's just expressing himself...  He's practicing his 'freedom of speech'..."

Neighbors Donkeys 

Freedom of speech?  Perhaps, but others also have the right to be free from YOUR speech.  It is OK to disagree with someone, but do it with civility.

Another example of people being uncivil is one of my neighbors. We are in the middle of a dispute with them as they want to open a donkey rescue right next door.  Now then, if they were on 10 acres of ground, that wouldn't be an issue.  However, they are on less than 3 acres in the middle of a residential neighborhood!  So, many of us, the neighbors, are opposed to having these very noisy animals in our backyards.  In my case, some of those very noisy animals are parked 50' from my bedroom window.  I tell you, there's nothing quite like being startled out of a sound sleep by the sound of a Navy submarine dive klaxon.

Even so, no harm is wished upon the animals.  They cannot help what they are.  So, when I saw one of the neighbor's donkeys eating a plastic bag, I did the neighborly thing and started talking to it, hoping to get it to stop eating the bag.  It worked and the animal dropped it.  That's a good thing!  An ingested plastic bag can cause all kinds of problems:  twisted intestine, colic, impacted bowels, etc.  None of them are good and all of them are potentially deadly to the animal, let alone costly to treat.

My neighbor & owner of the donkeys, Dorothea, was walking down the hill.  When she was within speaking distance, I told her about the bag and that she may want to remove the it from the yard so he didn't start eating it again.  She totally blew me off and ignored both the bag & the animal.  When he saw her, thankfully, he mosied on over to her and I reached through the shared fence and removed the bag.  Problem solved!  I hollered over to her that the bag was removed so she didn't have to worry about it.  Much to my chagrin & surprise, she proceeded to give me a ration of shit, telling me to stay away from the donkeys which have been eating my front yard!  WTF????  Here I am doing her a favor and she's giving me a ration of shit?  Telling me to stay out of an area of my front yard?  Who the hell does she think she is?????  I'll go anywhere I please in my front yard.

So, I walked over to her and gave her the bag.  She never shut up...  haranguing me...  Turned my back and told her she was an "ungrateful wench" and that her donkeys could choke on the damned bags the next time.

That's just one example of being uncivil.  There are many, many more...