MySpace?  Reunion?  TownHall?  Well, let's try here.  MySpace seems a bit full of nutters.  Reunion just seems to be a little shallow.  TownHall has like minds.
Well, okay, nobody else could possibly think like me.  I'm a nut!  But at least there are shared values and beliefs!

And what, oh what, shall I blog about?
Well, I'm not really in a political or religious phase (hmmm . . . I'm feeling rather shallow, really, maybe I should go to Reunion).

But I will pick a topic to get this thing started.

How about MANNERS?

I was on a date with a young man, some ten or more years ago.  We were on our third or fourth date and he ordered some kind of chicken in cream sauce in a decent restaurant (not McDonald's, but not The Melting Pot).  I was horrified to see him pick up said chicken in cream sauce and eat it with his fingers!  What the heck?  (I will try to refrain from my usual "cuss like a sailor" language around here . . . which is just funny since I'm fussing about manners!)  We did not have another date.  Poor guy.  I didn't tell him.  I felt bad, yes, I did.  I tried to be kind and gentle in my decision to end the dating experiment.  I think I did okay - he still asked a mutual friend about me some years later.  Hmmmm . . . in light of my single status, maybe I should have been more lenient . . . nah, I like the direction my life has gone.
Anyway, in my work, I especially have the opportunity to observe the manners of juveniles.  They are, in general, abhorrent.  There are a shocking number of households in which the child sets the tone.  Children no longer worry about speaking only when spoken to, respecting their elders, waiting their turn, etc.  When I have, once or twice in my life, met a well-mannered child, I am taken aback and consider kidnapping them for myself (just kidding, I guess I can't say stuff like that yet - people wouldn't know when to take me seriously).
I get to meet lots of rude adults at work too, but they are generally not as bad, perhaps because they've encountered enough people in my line of work to know the risks of being rude to the wrong person.  In my case, it just means that they will get no breaks, no leniency, and I will do everything I can to make the experience unpleasant.  You're nice to me, I'm nice to you.  At work, it goes in that order.
I guess some manner violations are inherent to the male gender (i.e. gas emissions that they think amusing, coming from either end), and one just has to roll with it.  I prefer maintain as much decorum as possible around others.
I think manners consist of:  Waiting one's turn to speak, opening a door for a woman, listening, speaking in a calm voice, refraining from intentionally insulting others, refraining from swearing in front of children and anyone else you think might be offended (I need some work on this myself), helping the elderly cross the street, being on time, keeping promises, don't cut into lines (be they standing in line for a cash register, merging into traffic, what have you)etc., etc.
I'm not Miss Manners - the art of Thank You notes is rather lost on me (to my chagrin), and I can generally be quite self-absorbed (really, I think you have to be to be a blogger and think that anyone else is interested in what one has to say).
But it truly saddens me to see what I perceive to be a digression and erosion of propriety.