This Ain't Good...As A Matter Of Fact, Damn Sad!!!

[Old406Kid]

From a Mineral County, MT resident.
"Today my husband Jon sherman and I floated the river from our house to slow way. He was alittle ahead of me and saw a couple loading their big raft onto a trailer. Two young men (maybe 16/17 yrs old) saw the man and came down from the parking area and asked him if he needed help. He said F…k no he didn’t need help. He said he didn’t need any f…king help. The rudeness was so unbelievable!!! Jon asked them if they’d help me when I landed because I had both knee replacements and can be alittle clumsy. They both jumped in and helped me. I was profusely thankful. The rude asswipe drove a crew cab red dodge diesel pickup with a electric bike and raft on a trailer. Washington license plates. I commend the parents of these young men. They were so friendly and kind. They’re from St Regis. They definitely didn’t deserve such treatment when trying to be helpful."

 

[Dr. Magill]

Haters gonna hate
Lovers gonna love
Jokers gonna joke
Assholes are gonna be assholes
4th law of thermodynamics

 

[up2nogood]

I don’t envy my children , grandkids , and the two great grandkids , with another on the way , the way this country is turning to . IMO we’ve got to see some of greatest decades of this country , I’m afraid they won’t.

 

[Paul_]

I don’t envy my children , grandkids , and the two great grandkids , with another on the way , the way this country is turning to . IMO we’ve got to see some of greatest decades of this country , I’m afraid they won’t.

I look at my teenage kids and their friends, and I believe there is hope (except in their music selection).
There are always ass hats in every generation…

 

[Bugmeister]

Admittedly this isn’t a great look for crew cab red dodge diesel drivers () but rather than focusing on the negative, how cool is it that those kids seem so helpful? Through a different lens (maybe overly rosy but I’m feeling good this morning because I’m still basking in the afterglow of some good recent surfing) this anecdote showing the younger generation being fantastic and some grump old(er) dude being a jerk would seem almost more a counterpoint to the notion that society is sliding downhill.

Good deeds happen all the time (and everywhere I believe) but don’t always get celebrated. I watched a special on the terrible Darien Gap migration route not too long ago. One of the themes that really came through despite all the tragedy was how incredibly helpful some folks are despite - or maybe because of - their circumstances. Poor, hungry, and desperate folks went above and beyond for each other.

Closer to home, call me glass half full but I still see so many good people from all walks of life. Last year in spirit of “celebrating the good” I posted about an experience I had where a stranger paid it forward. Admittedly it happened a long time ago…. but I still believe good is out there. My Saturday happy-morning hypothesis is that it transcends political leanings, socioeconomic status, age, wealth, gender, and all the other dimensions: https://pnwflyfishing.com/forum/index.php?threads/big-sky-hospitality.250/#post-9613

 

[NRC]

Old man yells at cloud

 

[Creatch’r]

Last summer I floated the upper Blackfoot for 4 days straight. The take out was a little rugged and involved picking up your boat at the waterline and carrying up a fairly steep hill, past an ecology block and lifting it up onto your trailer. Not fun especially after a 10 hr float but it’s the price you pay. Every single night there were people hanging around in darkness to help each group load their boats on the trailers, carry coolers and gear and walk around with flashlights to make sure nothing was left behind. All without asking, it was just what you did and everyone it seemed had gotten the memo which made it impossible to not want to help the next guy. I thought that was such an amazing thing. We had a group of 3 and we could have done it ourselves, but a raft is a lot lighter with 6 people, and with the extra hands dragging up the gear, it took minutes. Some of the guys hanging around to help had taken their own boats out well before but hung around until the last boat was off the river. I love montana for many things but that was pretty damn cool. And I’m sorry to hear that grumpy dude wasn’t up to speed in that case. But it doesn’t surprise me that he wasn’t local.

 

[kmudgn]

Maybe he thought the young men might walk across his lawn

 

[jaredoconnor]

We need to do what the generation raising ww2 generation did.

Segregate people of color? Strip women of their rights? Sounds like prescription grade rose color glasses.

 

[Mossback]

Exactly...

I don’t envy my children , grandkids , and the two great grandkids , with another on the way , the way this country is turning to . IMO we’ve got to see some of greatest decades of this country , I’m afraid they won’t.

This has been said about every generation since the Summerians...still waiting.
Seems it is just a way for folks to see themselves as something more than they are, their views as superior to others, their experiences the ones that define the 'best' era of any given place.

...and it's always bullsh*t...

Perspective...try and get some understanding of the word and what it means, how it works.

 

[jaredoconnor]

Exactly...

This has been said about every generation since the Summerians...still waiting.
Seems it is just a way for folks to see themselves as something more than they are, their views as superior to others, their experiences the ones that define the 'best' era of any given place.

...and it's always bullsh*t...

I would agree with you, for most of the past century. However, I don’t think that’s the case now. AI and the broken political system are pretty dire issues and no one is doing anything meaningful about either of them.

 

[RichS]

There are lots of good people everywhere however:
Our family recently spent a few days in Victoria BC and difference in how people act there and here is huge. Among other things I noticed:
-Strangers help each other, from car breakdown assistance to holding doors, to saying please and thank you.
-drivers let others change easily lanes and are generally considerate of each other.
- you can cross the street as a pedestrian safely because drivers respect walkers.
- people don’t seem to be in a big hurry all the time.

All in all it reminded me of rural Minnesota not Washington. Or any other place where people slow down and love their neighbor.

There are big problems with polite behavior in this country and our state is not a shining light of nice. The Seattle area is bad and the Tri-Cities where we live is about the same.

This can only be repaired by each of us being aware of how our actions affect others. There are pay it forward effects of most small random acts of kindness (proper normal human interaction) and by appreciation when others are kind.

 

[Mossback]

So was the Black Plague, the Dark Ages, the Great Flood, the Little Ice Age, The Toba Catastrophe...and so forth.

If you think the political system is broken now, for most of western human history it was Kings and serfs, or some variation thereof.
Arguably much worse ( broken ) if you were a serf, the majority of the population.

Predicting the future is another of man's endeavors that has not been what you might call one of the stellar achievements of humanity.

 

[jaredoconnor]

So was the Black Plague, the Dark Ages, the Great Flood, the Little Ice Age, The Toba Catastrophe...and so forth.

If you think the political system is broken now, for most of western human history it was Kings and serfs, or some variation thereof.
Arguably much worse ( broken ) if you were a serf, the majority of the population.

Predicting the future is another of man's endeavors that has not been what you might call one of the stellar achievements of humanity.

My point was constrained to “most of the past century”. Our existence is blissful, compared to most of history.

 

[Rob Allen]

Segregate people of color? Strip women of their rights? Sounds like prescription grade rose color glasses.

I deleted my post to avoid this crap.

 

[jaredoconnor]

This can only be repaired by each of us being aware of how our actions affect others. There are pay it forward effects of most small random acts of kindness (proper normal human interaction) and by appreciation when others are kind.

I doubt that is possible at scale, as long as politicians, celebrities and the media continue to fuel the fire of disdain for “the others”. It is highly profitable and they’ve become very good at it.

I think a lot of folks are worn out by all the division and have tuned out, which is great. However, I think it is too addictive for the majority to let go. We’ve been forming tribes since we were living in caves and we won’t evolve out of it any time soon.

Aliens visiting us is the best thing that could happen for humanity; it would instantly trivialize all of our infantile squabbles.

 

[DoesItFloat]

I don’t envy my children , grandkids , and the two great grandkids , with another on the way , the way this country is turning to . IMO we’ve got to see some of greatest decades of this country , I’m afraid they won’t.

The boomer mentality. Your generation dumped a giant mess onto future generations and just looks the other way. The least you could do is accept a little responsibility.

 

[nwbobber]

Why don't we all find someone who needs a hand, and help them, next time we are out and about? Nice is contagious.

 

[_WW_]

From a Mineral County, MT resident.
"Today my husband Jon sherman and I floated the river from our house to slow way. He was alittle ahead of me and saw a couple loading their big raft onto a trailer. Two young men (maybe 16/17 yrs old) saw the man and came down from the parking area and asked him if he needed help. He said F…k no he didn’t need help. He said he didn’t need any f…king help. The rudeness was so unbelievable!!! Jon asked them if they’d help me when I landed because I had both knee replacements and can be alittle clumsy. They both jumped in and helped me. I was profusely thankful. The rude asswipe drove a crew cab red dodge diesel pickup with a electric bike and raft on a trailer. Washington license plates. I commend the parents of these young men. They were so friendly and kind. They’re from St Regis. They definitely didn’t deserve such treatment when trying to be helpful."

It matters not to the story where all the folks are from. All it does is promote division and superior attitudes.
What it does do is illustrate that because the asshole said fuck no, the kids were available to help someone that could really use the help.

 

[_WW_]

The boomer mentality.

Hard to come up with a broader brush than that, but I'll try.
Non-Boomer Mentality.
How'd I do?