We Have Come a Long Way

We have come a long way from George Washington’s rules of etiquette and My Fair Lady’s reference of murdering the English language. The culture of South and West Virginia in the beginning of the new world, as they struggled to build a country of refined cultured and educated people, while fighting poverty and resources, can hardly be found in our advanced nation of electronics and trips into outer space.

In today’s advancements in filming, computers and the net, that can open up the world to resources of knowledge at the touch of a key . . . what has become of good old-fashioned culture and respect?

I grew up in a family that worked hard to develop means of expressing ourselves in dignified ways. We loved cowboy shows of the Old West, where they often shot each other, but their language didn’t consist of expressions about the private parts or activities of one’s body to make the point of the conversation more emotional.

I grew up in the days of the Golden Era of Hollywood, where the movie stars protected the image they displayed before the world. I loved the stories they portrayed in Hollywood, where when the hero did the wrong thing they had to live with the consequences, and the good guys were the ones who cared about their fellowmen. Our movies didn’t portray violence in every scene, like blowing up the neighbor’s car, or scenes of constant adultery. The argument today seems to be that those stories weren’t real or truthful. Sure some of our closets were covering secrets, but the truth is still the truth. What we live for and earn we attain, and when we break the rules of integrity and go to war with ourselves and our fellowmen, we have to pay for it one way or another, individually, or as a nation and a world.

I remember when someone could ask the question, “What’s going on here?” without added a swear word or the name of deity. I remember when someone could get angry and not include parts of our bodies or Heavenly beings in the discussion.

Every time I hear someone include necessary but indelicate acts of our bodies as just a means of making the conversation crude, I wonder what other countries think of America as they watch television.

As I attend movies today, and I try to be careful and check ratings, I realize that the entertainment field needs scripts; they need stories with feeling and people caring about each other. Sex is only as wonderful as the feeling between the two people who indulge, and sex without spirituality is a crude form of physical gratification without responsibility.

I want to pay tribute here to the courage and dignity of the youth of today who live with crudeness all around them and refrain from indulging. To those who still feel the beauty of nature and learn to emphasize their speech without vulgar, crude words that embarrass those that hear them, I commend you. We need more forgiveness, more understanding, and more love and examples like George Washington, who cared enough to want the nation to learn of culture, etiquette and good manners. It hurts to see beautiful people use ugly crude expressions.

All right, so I go way back to the good old days. I love dignity, beauty, pretty flowers and little animals. I look for stories with tender feelings that bring me to tears. I care about people who love honesty, who fight for right and want to help others. I long to live in a world of love and caring, where emotion is real and gratitude a common expression of how we live . . . And let it begin with me! ~ Shirley Sealy