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Individual Rights Require Responsibilities

By Frederick Corrigan

Every day, you can go about your daily events and see the deteriorating society that we call American Freedom.

Let’s go shopping in the local Walmart store. We get the familiar greeting as we push our shopping cart into the store, “Welcome to Walmart”.

Imagine that, a real live person with a smile, looking you in the eye and welcoming you into their store.

Having said that, let’s continue on to complete our shopping.

We’ve been here before, so we have a plan. We start by going to the far side of the store and working our way back to the cashiers.

We round the last aisle and head for the dairy case. As we approach the cross aisle, a woman is talking on her cell phone, her 4 year old daughter is sitting in the shopping cart and mom takes a package of English muffins out of the child’s hand and puts it into the refrigerated butter case, on top of the butter. Mom looks at the child and says, ”No you can’t have that”. Mom continues pushing the cart up the aisle, still conversing on the cell phone. I walk toward the Milk display case and here is a display of English muffins. This must be where the little girl grabbed the box of English muffins and mom walked another 30 feet before she realized that her daughter had them. Now, just because mom is so engrossed in gabbing on her cell phone, she throws the box of muffins into the butter case.

Mom has the right to talk on her cell phone, but she doesn’t have the right to be irresponsible in the training of her young daughter. It’s also irresponsible for mom to discard the merchandise where it doesn’t belong.

I came upon a display of “day old” bakery goods. Dad is selecting a box of donuts and his son is watching with the look of anticipation. Mom shows up, talking on her hand-held cell phone, picks the box of donuts out of the cart and throws them back onto the display rack. The donuts landed on top of a cake, and without a word, mom pushes the shopping cart down the aisle. Son just watches this exchange and follows dad, who is following mom. Once again, parents distracted by the cell phone, setting a terrible example in front of their child.

I take a right turn and head down the snack aisle to get some almonds. BAD MOVE, six shopping carts with customers not paying attention in this aisle. One lady, talking on her cell phone, was 10 feet in front of her cart trying to make a decision on which brand of potato chips to select. The problem here was her purse was setting in the top of the cart, where a small child might ride. There in the top of her open purse was her wallet. This type of situation is what leads teenagers to being tempted to steal the wallet, getting caught and ending up with a police record. Responsible women don’t leave their purse and wallet 10 feet behind, as that is begging for trouble. Add to that, the distraction of the cell phone and you have potential trouble.

I finally made it to the meat section and the first thing I see is a package of frozen chicken legs, sitting on top of the steaks in the refrigerated meat case. I’m now looking at a potential health hazard and waste irresponsibility. When an employee finds a frozen food in any area other than where it belongs, the item has to be thrown away. The reason is that there isn’t any way to determine how long the item has been out of the freezer. It would appear that some irresponsible customer changed their mind and just discarded the item where they were. Common sense and responsibility should have dictated returning the frozen food to the proper place.

I finally completed my shopping, check out through the cashiers and head for my truck with the groceries.

I’m walking through the parking lot and headed towards me is a lady, (You’ll never guess), talking on her hand-held cell phone. She’s walking 8 feet behind the row of parked cars and doesn’t realize that a car is coming up behind her. The woman just kept walking and talking and never realized that she was in the middle of the roadway.

I arrived at my truck, put the groceries on the back seat and returned the shopping cart to the cart storage area.

I’m climbing into my truck and I observe a man getting into his mini-van in the line of parked cars across from me. He gets in, dials his hand-held cell phone, starts his van, starts talking into his phone, puts the vehicle into reverse and backs out of his parking space. IF, there was a child walking behind his van, he never would have seen it. If this man felt it necessary to talk on his cell phone, than he shouldn’t have started his vehicle in motion. He has a right to talk on his cell phone, but he wasn’t acting responsible.

As I was driving home, I passed a young boy riding his bike on the sidewalk. When I got closer, I realized that the boy was talking on his hand-held cell phone and steering his bike with one hand. Where do you think that he learned that this was okay?

What could happen, if a cat ran out in front of his moving bike? He would swerve to his left, lose control of his bike, come into the street, collide with my truck and we would both be losers.

When people are in motion, walking, driving, running, biking, skateboarding or whatever, they are irresponsible when they use their cell phones. Do we need laws to dictate this common sense?

Adults need to show children that using cell phones while in motion is being irresponsible.

Teaching our children safety and responsibility is not just TALKING; it’s setting the proper example by our ACTIONS!

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Amazingly true, and this is just the start of the lack of responsibility. Had you actually said something to any of them, you would have been vilified and made to think you were in the wrong, and odds are had you stood your ground, someone would try to sue you. Amazing and sad at the same time.

Just remember, its never your fault, there is always someone else to blame, and best of all, there is always someone else who should have to pay for your lifestyle. After all, why be burdened with a mortgage when you can go out to dinner every night, why worry about a car payment when you need new designer clothes to wear to your dinner?

Thank you for stopping by and for your valuable comments, Jobo.
Somehow, responsibility has to get into the individual rights equation.
Best wishes.
Frederick

I see this everyday and how about the man or woman on the freeway doing 65 MPH - Changing lanes and talking on the Cell Phone.

Everyday I'm talking to someone face to face and their cell phone will ring and they will instantly answer it right in the middle of our conversion.

The me generation is trying to take over and unfortunately,Bill, there will be laws made to change our rights. As with most things, a few bad apples, spoils the whole basket of fruit.
Best wishes.
Frederick

This is a bit like driving under the influence. I'm different. It can't happen to me. Oops did I just kill someone?

Here we have laws disallowing driving and talking on a cell phone. Do many people actually obey?

Driving behavior testing has determined that everyone's abilities and reaction times are effected when talking on a cell phone.

It is people's irresponsibilities that are moving us to a "Big Brother is Watching" situation. Every irresponsible act impedes the rights of others.

You are so right, Reg. Where did we lose the "Do unto others" mentality? It srarts in the home, then the schools, then in the public arena and the workplace. "ME" needs to be redefined as "WE".
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Best wishes.
Frederick

All very true but you have obviously failed to keep up with th modern wishy washy thinking of the new limp adminisitration.

ONE it is possible to sue if your rights are infringed - like talking on your cell phone irresponsibly

It is going to become a tug of war as to who's rights have been infringed, Arthur. You can bet that cell phone legislation is on the way.
Thank you for your comments, I really appreciate them.
Best wishes.
Frederick

As usual Frederick a good intel that has roused us to make agreeing comments and of course every one of them is so true but once again is it our fault, as the older generation for allowing our children to 'do as they liked'! Or did we teach them to be responsible citizens and as Reg says " do unto others....." a good mantra to live by.

Thank you for your visit and for your comments, Adrian. We older generation are at fault, but the worst mistake, is not correcting the mistake and learning from it!
Best wishes.
Frederick

But I agree with you about the cell phones. The convenience of these things just creates another excuse for people to be stupid. Texting is even worse.

Yes, James, these incidents all happened on one trip to wallmart. Believe it or not, there were more stupid cell phone people, that I didn't include in this intel. Maybe I need to write a Book!
Thank you for your on-going support.
Best wishes.
Frederick

I used to notice a lot of things like you describe, but awhile back I decided to change my focus. Now I make a habit of watching for people doing something right. There are a lot of them out there, I found, once I reshifted my focus to the positive. Sometimes I complement a young mom or dad for something I thought they did well. I feel better about the world that way, and I let myself think that perhaps it brightens someone else's day as well.

Thank you for sharing these very positive comments, June. I appreciate your loyal following and sound advise.
Best wishes.
Frederick

A great intel, Frederick. I'm a school teacher and this year our school is focusing on rights and responsibilities. We've noticed how everyone is focusing on their rights, but no one bothers to consider the responsibilities these entail. Children think that their rights should be respected over and above everyone else's. They learn this at home, but unfortunately educational institutions also share part of the responsibility. We are being so over-protective that we are sending across the wrong messages. That is why the school where I work decided on this topic. Other people have as many rights as we have. And our rights stop where other people's begin. You have given a great example, Frederick. Would you mind if I used your intel in one of my drama classes as role play? I think it would set the children thinking and would be a good example to discuss.

Thank you for visiting and for your great comments, Charmaine. I am thrilled and honored to have you use my intel in your drama class. Maybe you could get the drama class to perform in front of the lesgislature and maybe wake up our policy makers. We need to start somewhere.
Best to you.
Frederick

Thank you for sharing these great quotes, Bill.
We all need to understand the power that we have to do the right thing.
Best wishes.
Frederick

I read somewhere that with freedom comes great responsibility!! Besides, haven't they been doing studies perhaps showing that prolonged cell phone use may cause brain cancer? What an incredible shopping day for you... thanks for sharing great topics of discussion for us!

Thank you for visiting and for your informative comments, Diana. You are absolutely correct.
Eleanor Roosevelt Quoted:
Freedom makes a hugh requirement of every human being. With Freedom comes responsibility. For the person who does not want to carry their own weight, this is a frightening prospect.
Best to you.
Frederick

I'll say! Just today a woman darted out before my car without so much as a glance so preoccupied with her cell phone conversation that she didn't notice who had the right of way. It was not her. Times might have seemed bad in many ways back when you and I were children, but I do think parents then, even some that were not stellar at parenting, paid more attention to their kids than many do now.

Thank you for stopping by and for your comments, Janet. Not only do they walk into traffic, I've seen them pushing their baby strollers into the crosswalk. I can't imagine how bad the next generation is going to be.
Best to you.
Frederick

Another great Intel Fredrick. I have certainly observed this exact same kind of behavior. It is great that we have such wonderful technology these days but it is also so disconnecting. not only are the parents being irresponsible in this behavior, but they are also teaching their kids that it is ok to be somewhere else...I mean no one is connected to what they are doing, in the here and now as everyone is talking to someone and engaged somewhere else. it also says to the kid your not important to me right now, Im talking to someone else instead.

Thank you for visiting and for your comments, Eliza. This disconnecting is only going to get worse, as we continue to screw our heads into the electronic age.
Best to you.
Frederick

My dad always said, "People should worry more about their duties than their rights." Something along the same line as what you have written.

One of the problems that I see, Loraine, is that the children today don't have any duties. The parents can't take the time to teach the children and perform the duties with the children.
Thank you for stopping by and for your comments. Dad was right!
Best wishes.
Frederick

I appreciate your visit and comments, Sandy.
Best to you.
Frederick

Thanks for the Intel, Frederick. I'm a member of several forums, and you might be surprised how many members think they should be able to exercise their "right" to say what they like, and be as offensive to other members as they like. That is after all their "right" (so they think). But, with rights comes responsibilities, and if they fail to be responsible the forum administrator can exercise his "right" to kick them off the board. And as for smokers who want to use their "right" to smoke whenever, wherever, don't let me get started...

Thank you for visiting and for your valuable comments, Geoff. If the relationship between rights and responsibilities was taught, starting at age two and continued through college, we wouldn't be having this discussion.
Best wishes.
Frederick

Excellent piece on one of my pet peeves. Why have you reached this point? Our parents didn't teach us we could walk all over people, talk on cell phones no matter what we are doing. I had to ask my 31 year old son to either let me drive or stop text messaging on his phone a few weeks ago. He didn't learn that from me, its just become common with "kids" evne though we have had several deaths in the past few months in our town.
I have no problem making comments to people in stores talking on their phones and in my way and some of them have been old enough to be MY grandparents! Sad

Thank you for visiting and for your valuable comments, Deborah. We are going to see some individual rights laws changed or we're going to bury more of our children. Before we had cell phones, we were happy to stand and talk in a telephone booth. Now, we have to MOVE and TALK, which is ridiculous.
Best wishes.
Frederick

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