The Figurative Frog

America is a melting pot. Over the last few decades with our fear of offending people and the necessity of being politically correct has come the decline of individualism. This, I feel, has played a large role in the decline of social standards. Heaven forbid, that people with grace and decorum make a person with horrible manners feel that they are somehow less of a person. What is this but a motivation to better oneself? Society is the boiling pot, I say. Most people know how you boil a frog alive. Put him into room temperature water and slowly raise the temperature so he doesn't realize he's getting cooked until it's too late. We've let respect and manners slip, rationalizing that children have more important things to be taught, until we have an entire country of rude unmotivated slobs. And unfortunately, this generation that has grown up not learning etiquette is now coming up into the leadership of the country. What will become of the next generation?

Will the trend change so that the young will respect and listen to the aged? Will we continue in this decline or will we finally one day realize our condition and leap from the steaming pot?