XBL - It's everywhere now.

Earlier this week I took a little time off work to lend a set of hands with a couple of other guys putting out some mulch at our church. I figured it be a nice warm day of spending a couple of hours doing something for someone other than myself.  Quiet.  Maybe even enjoyable.  Two things happened that day that I found both humorous and sad.  

Our church is located along a major artery road leading towards downtown so there's quite a bit of traffic flow out front.  Within about 15 minutes of me being there a gentleman in an old beat up Chevy pulls in and asks if the pastor is there.  He says he needs to speak to him regarding some financial help that he gives from time to time and that he knows him well and even mentions that he knows what car he drives.  I'm already skeptical at this point, 'cause the pastor's car is sitting right there and is nothing like what's been described.  This, however, is not my area of expertise so I refer him to one of the deacons who is also there to help with mulching.

Here's where it get's funny.  After a brief exchange the man asks "Do you have any work or anything I can do in exchange for some gas money?"  At this point John (the deacon) takes a long slow look at the mountain of mulch sitting in the parking lot and then looks back.  "Well, we do have all of that to put down."

"Um, errr.  I've got to be at my job so I'll just stop back later when the pastor comes back."

lol

The second thing that I noticed was more sad than funny.  In the course of the 2 - 3 hours that we were there working, we must've had a half dozen or more people heckling us from their cars as they were passing by.  Some of the things that were said were quite fowl.  Why?  What causes a person to randomly yell stupid crap at people who are just minding their own business and doing a little yard work?  This wasn't just one guy or instance, it was a regular thing going on all afternoon.

Then I remembered.

This is the kind of thing that is being tolerated on XBL every day.

I can't imagine ever having the desire to randomly shout some guy down or curse out a perfect stranger whether face to face or over XBL or Facebook or passing on the street or anywhere else.  What is possibly possessing kids and adults alike to think that's acceptable behavior?  Now I know this has gone on for some time but I don't think it's ever been on the scale it is now.  If I were a kid and I even had an inkling to act that way my father would've beaten my ass raw. (figure of speech it's discipline not child abuse folks)  Maybe there's not enough threat of consequence these days to keep people civil.  

We as a society have always had differences of opinion and people who didn't like each other and people who did really terrible things to each other.  I have no allusions about "good old days".  We sure seem to be getting more and more uncivil with each other though.