Respect Matters [PHIL-OSOPHY]
Over the beautiful Father's Day weekend, Massachusetts and Rhode Island had the busiest two days so far at our local beaches. Traffic was backed up, and parking lots filled up fast. By mid-morning, they were crammed to capacity.
With the huge throngs of sun worshipers, beach staff was having a difficult time getting the crowd to thin out when the groups got too large. And then someone lit the proverbial fuse, and the beachgoers got disrespectful, rude and uncivil. The verbal insults started from the great unwashed. The staff was not only cursed at and ill-treated, but their warnings and instructions also fell on deaf ears.
Near places like the bathrooms and high-risk areas, rangers and staff requested that everyone wear a face covering and distance themselves, but Mr. and Mrs. Cheeky were neither receptive nor understanding. It got to the boiling point, so the governor put on her iron fist. As a result, sometime in the next few days, new modifications will be implemented. That's code for big changes are coming because some people are unwilling to let go of their scorching self-image.
I guess there are still plenty of people who haven't learned much from the lessons of COVID-19. What's so difficult about dropping the attitude, and being polite and good-natured? I used to think that working at a hearing aid factory, cleaning ear wax out of malfunctioning hearing aids was the worst job ever, but the beach patrol surpasses that one.
Our days are better when we give people a bit of our civility rather than a piece of our mind.
Phil Paleologos is the host of The Phil Paleologos Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Contact him at phil@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @PhilPaleologos. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.