Where have you gone, Missus Robinson, indeed.

You are standing in a line and a person shoves you hard from behind. Once...twice...a third time. When do you turn around and find out what their problem is? And when you finally have enough and confront this person who elbows you in the kidney as they dig through pocket or purse and they have the audacity to act like you are the jerk for saying (a direct quote) "Could you please stop." Sure, you phrased it as a statement instead of a request, but maybe that third time just got to be a bit much.

I have been in or witnessed scenes such as this multiple times over the past several months. I have said as much before, but it is worth repeating: As a society, we have become rude beyond belief. Everybody seems so self-absorbed that they care little or nothing about the humans around them as they careen through life like pinballs. It may seem like a cop-out, but I place a lot of the blame on our social media-driven society.

People spout off in ways that they would never do in public from the safety of their darkened little cave homes. That has carried over to our mobile phones and automobiles. It is like people just tromp through with the mindset that wherever it is that they are going, it is simply much more important than what YOU might be doing.

Add in a little alcohol to the mix and it is 'damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!'

Driving has become something out of "Mad Max" as cars jam themselves in at the last minute and then give you the finger for not just stopping when they want to fit in between you and the car in front of you. Never mind that they have been cruising along the emergency lane so they don't have to actually wait in the same traffic that you have been stuck in for the past hour. In what world did any of this sort of behavior become acceptable?

I have also seen some amazing acts of people taking the classic "victim's stance" when confronted by somebody who has had enough of their churlish behavior. Speak out and the person will deny any sort of wrong doing, and how dare you speak in such a rude way to them, thank you very much.

I realize this seems a bit like soap-boxing, but seriously, this only changes one person at a time. When was the last time you were in line at the grocery with one thing and behind a person with a full cart who waved you through? Or when was the last time YOU waved that person with one thing ahead in line? 

It starts like the cartoon snowball, people. Like that "Pay it Forward" movie. And maybe you never see the reciprocation, but perhaps that lone act of kindness, turns around a person's day.