Blinkers

     O.K. Here it is. I am getting rather ticked off by the way people drive. Is it just me or has anyone else out there noticed that people are not using their turn indicators? I don't understand this. When I was taught to drive, while in high school, I was told two very important things: #1 the car was not going to do anything you did not tell it to do and #2 if you plan on moving the car from its present position you MUST use your turn indicator to let people know what you are doing! Other drivers cannot read your mind so it is common courtesy to use your blinkers. Done. Period.
     In the past couple of days I have had people change lanes, almost into the side of my car, without signaling, make left turns in front of me without signaling and make me wait at a stop sign to cross a street while they merrily come down the road and at the last minute I realize they are talking a right hand turn which means I have wasted 2-3 minutes out of my life I will never get back. This is just inconsiderate and also downright dangerous.
     In talking to some others about this topic I have also heard that the librarian in our school has been told that she shouldn't quiet the students that come in for tutoring, as the noise they make is a "productive noise." I hardly think that screaming and making so much noise that she goes home with a headache almost every single day, is not productive. It is just inconsiderate and rude. It's a library for heaven's sake! When did the rules for being quiet in a library change?
     While I'm ranting here I should also mention that most of the students on my campus have no manners. They don't excuse themselves when they walk into you, no less when they cross your line of vision or conversation. They throw their food containers on the ground, not in the trash can which are conveniently located around the lunch area, when they are finished eating and opening doors for anyone other than themselves is a pipe dream. Oh, they also spit on campus, anywhere they like: sidewalk, playing field, ramps to class rooms etc... I suppose I should be grateful they don't spit indoors...yet. Our sidewalks on campus are littered with old dried up wads of gum that can only be removed with a special concrete buffing machine; too expensive to rent.
     Where is the civility we are supposed to extend to other human beings? Are we so caught up in technology that the human factor, along with the manners of polite society, is being lost? These children we teach are the voice of tomorrow and we are letting an entire new generation grow up without the manners to conduct themselves properly in society at large. It is too large of an issue to just be a random act of poor up bringing. We are not, at least some of us, setting good examples.
     Use your turn indicators. Throw your trash in a waste can. Say "excuse me" when needed. Come on, people. Step up and do the right thing so that our children can live in the polite society we all grew up in. Don't make all our parent's efforts be in vain.