raising awareness

aware
 /əˈwɛər/ [uh-wair]
–adjective
1. having knowledge; conscious; cognizant
2. informed; alert; knowledgeable
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being aware is important to me
i try to be aware of many things
my surroundings
like when i am driving
or pushing a shopping cart
or maneuvering a busy sidewalk
my words
like how they make people feel
or if my words are clear
or how something sounds
there are so many other things
to be aware of
but that is a different post

'cause i am here to talk about the
lack of awareness!
{before i spew my thoughts, let me start
by saying that i am not one to make
generalizations
don't like 'em
i am simply making an honest
evaluation of my observations}

am i the only one who notices
a severe lack of awareness in people
these days?
let's take the lady and her brood
who stepped off the curb without
paying any mind to the cars heading
in their direction
or the fact that there was a cross walk
40 yards away
and then proceeds to walk as slowly
as she possibly can while stopping said traffic
could she have been a little more unawares?
doubt it!

and then there is the
adolescent unawares syndrome
a.k.a. a.u.s.
now here is a troubling phenomenon!
and mind you, i will speak just to what i witness
in my own small town on certain days...
we have minimum days,
half days of school
today was such a day
and i was running an errand
at a shopping center situated just near
the schools
the teacher in me had to be restrained!
i thought of how embarrassed my kids would be
if i went all teacher on these kids!
here is the scene:
skateboards being ridden on sidewalk
of shopping center
kids rudely interrupting store employees,
running into, literally running into
people
businesses
cars!
walking out of restaurants with cups and plates,
and they weren't the paper kind
wth?
could these kids stop for one second and look
the hell around them?
when did it become okay to be this unaware?
i know, we were all their age once
but i guaran-damn-tee you we did not
act like this!
i was on the verge of an anxiety attack
sitting and watching all of this happen!
then, the opportunity came:
in the form of a school resource officer
he pulled up to the sandwich place
i approached him
he knows me as a teacher in the district
i express my level of anxiety over
the scene
he says something like...
kids these days...
WHAT????
i happen to think kids these days
act the way they do because of that attitude!
here is someone who could have said something
to the punks
trashing the parking lot with their lunch litter
or breaking the no skateboard rule
or heck, how about wrecking into the parked cars?
and all he says is
kids these days?
am i the only one bothered by this?
i am a busy parent like most others
but i find the time to teach my kids awareness
when did it become an option to skip this part of parenting????