“Going, going, gone!”
I still remember the voice of Mel Allen, longtime New York Yankees broadcaster, accompanying the crack of a bat and another Yankee home run.
But that was a long time ago.
Now what’s going, going, gone is civility and courtesy. And quite frankly, it’s generational.
Everyone is so preoccupied with looking at their phones all day long and taking selfies that they have zero sense of anyone around them.
Try getting on or off a NYC subway line. It’s bumper cars. Try and get up the subway stairs! It’s become an obstacle course. Everyone under a certain age MUST check their texts the second they see a hint of the sky because everyone must be receiving life-altering text messages at 8:27 AM. Do they care that they’re holding up dozens of people behind them? Of course not.
I’m just getting started.
Try walking the city streets. It’s no longer possible. Everyone under a certain age is adding to their collection of 8,000 selfies they’ll never look at again for the rest of their lives. And since nobody is looking at the world in front of them, they’ll push and bump into you and remember, it’s YOUR fault.
I got verbally abused a week ago by a young guy who walked into me. It took everything I had to keep my inner Bronx at bay. I’m not a violent person but this guy would have had a difficult time taking selfies if I let the Bronx take over. And then…I would have been the bad guy.
What is going on? How has an entire generation become this narcissistic, this selfish?
New York City has a slogan. “If you see something, say something.” It’s time we apply the slogan to more than just a backpack under a bench. Isn’t it time we call out the absence of civility in our society?
I say it is.
Art Gurwitz
Founder, Areena
Author
