Yesterday was a cold, grey day, much like the many other cold, grey days we have endured recently. So last night my wife and I fed the kids and ventured out for a dinner for just the two of us. Afterwards we walked over to the nearby Krispy Kreme to get donuts for this morning.
There was a family at the counter when we arrived, and not long after we arrived at least another half dozen people walked in. The family at the counter was a bit slow in deciding what they wanted, and at this point an older man (who might have been slightly drunk) came up to the counter and said something along the lines of, "Come on ladies, figure it out." The man of the family (likely in his 50s and not a pleasant looking man) turned to the older man and immediately screamed, "Shut the f___ up!" and just glared at him. A few more comments passed and I was standing almost between then and wondering if I needed to get involved, but I just kept looking at the donuts. Finally the family with the angry man paid for their donuts and left and the angry man walked up to the older man who was still standing at the counter and got up in his face before finally walking away.
As I tell this story I realize it's not all that impressive of a story; we didn't come back and tell the kids how we suffered a pitched battle for their donuts, nor can I come up with a good joke that begins "A drunk man, an angry man, and a Mormon missionary" (the person in the back of the line we noticed as we walked out) "walk into a Krispy Kreme". But it does highlight the world we live in 2019. Civility has been dying for a long time, I suppose, but whether it's those who accept the unacceptable from our president or those who think themselves so woke that all they can do is scream and rage at others, our nation and culture seems to be in an especially bad place at this time.
I am currently reading a book about the fight over 'Bloody Kansas' between pro-slavery forces and abolitionists in the 1850s and 1860s and I suppose that things may even be better now, as at least today people don't go killing their neighbors because of political views...no, they just do this now because of a dispute over a video game or a barking dog. Civility has never been an especially American quality, I guess...we think ourselves so free that we cannot fathom that others are also trying to live within that freedom.
I don't know all the answers except for a life in Jesus Christ, a life in which people genuinely seek to live out his words to 'Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.' (Luke 6:27-28) And, I might add, "Stop screaming at people at the Krispy Kreme."
