Mean People Suck

People are mean. Mean sounds a little harsh, I'll admit. But it's true. People are really, really mean. I have become more and more aware of how people just aren't nice to each other anymore. No one waves to random strangers walking their dogs, people don't hold doors open for old people or {GASP} women with babies, and if you need the mayo jar on the top shelf that's just out of reach, you're pretty much screwed because no one's gonna help you out. This will probably result with some grocery store shelf scaling and a stern reprimand by the staff because scaling the shelves is dangerous and instead of the clerk offering to get it for you when he sees that you're clearly struggling, he scolds you because PEOPLE ARE MEAN. Or at the very least really inconsiderate.

I don't know that I've ever been flat out mean to a stranger. I'm sure I have been short or maybe a little reticent, but I really strive to be nice and polite and helpful. The whole entertaining angels unaware thing, Hebrews 13:2. But people these days just don't seem to be all that interested in being nice to people they don't know. And I live in a part of the country that is known for its hospitality. It is starting to hurt my feelings. I don't want my daughter growing up in a world where people don't say please and thank you. I don't want her to never have a sense of community with her neighbors. But if the neighbors are stealing the newspaper or won't wave when you check the mail, how will she ever experience that?

And it's not just in real life, I am a member of several online communities and I stay amazed at how many people are mean to internet strangers for petty things like having a difference of opinion. Or how they spell their child's name. Or how they discipline. I watch the news and wonder how someone could stab someone else in the face over their place in line or rear end someone because they failed to signal when changing lanes. Do people really hate each other so badly that they are willing to wreck their car to prove something? This happened to my best friend. We both cried for the person that hit her because he obviously has some issues if ramming his car into hers over a lane of traffic seemed like a rational option. 


When I am faced with deliberate meanness, I always try to remember that I don't know the other person's story. They could've flipped me off for driving the speed limit because they're on their way to the hospital to see a dying friend or something awful. Or they could have just broken up with someone. Realizing that the mean person may have some awful thing they are dealing with helps to not take it so personally.

I don't want to go all prep rally on you and incite a pay it forward type of thing with random acts of kindness, but can we at least smile when the waitress brings extra lemons or nod when the old man coos at your baby? Are we all so callous that we sneer at women with babies who don't walk the cart back to the store in the parking lot because it is 100 degrees and the baby is already loaded in the car seat? This happened to me today. I left my cart in my space because I was at the end of the parking lot and Beatrice was already buckled in. The lady got out of her vehicle to glare and shake her head to let me know that she did not approve of me leaving the cart there. Yes, I know the cart doesn't belong there but women with babies in 100 degree weather have different rules. It's in the Bible. (I kid, I kid). 


We are all called to love one another (John 13:34). So maybe next time the bank teller is rude and tells you she cannot process your three checks because there is a two transaction limit at the drive thru, don't tell her where she can shove that cylinder can thingy, be nice instead. Wave at your neighbors, even if you don't know them. Open doors for old people. Be nice. Okay, maybe this is starting to sound like a prep rally. I'm just gonna own it though. Seriously, don't let the mean people win. Be nice and sweet and polite. It will go well with you. Do it or I'll ram you with my car.