These Days Everybody Is Great

The current trend towards shameless self promotion seems to be gaining strength, and it is rapidly dwindling the number of people worth listening to, either in person, on television or even in the blogosphere. Recently, an actress who's name I don't recall, was complemented by her interviewer on her gun handling skills in her latest movie. Her response was, "Oh I'm great with guns!" Really? There are many of us out in the real world who have spent more years than this young lady has been alive, buying, selling, shooting, studying, disassembling and sometimes even reassembling, firearms of all types, who still wouldn't proclaim ourselves "great with guns." All of us old school(properly mannered?) types, may have to rethink our position because apparently, these days, saying a thing makes it so.

Not too long ago I complemented the highschool football teammate of one of my sons, by commenting that he had played a good game last Friday night. His response." Yeah I'm really fast and that's the reason we won." I am not often left speechless by highschool kids but all I could manage was a blank look, a couple of styptic blinks, and an internal "alrighty then". Back in the day, when a teammate's dad, or anybody else , told us that we played a good game, we invariably and to a man responded, "thanks". Note to self: Times have changed.

Don't get me wrong, there have always been a few braggarts, but in the old days they were discounted, laughed at, and avoided. These days it seems there is no escaping them. I must have been sick the day that society decided self praise carries the same weight as that which comes from an unbiased source. If I have done nothing else of note, as a parent, I have at least attempted to keep my children from getting "too big for their britches". Considering the way in which our society is changing, I hope I haven't done them a disservice. This particular trend, in my estimation, is crude, boring, and a civilizational step backwards. It can't run it's course soon enough to suit me.

Be that as it may, I think that this post proves, once and for all that I can now add the title "GREATEST BLOGGER IN THE WORLD!", to my already SUPER IMPRESSIVE list of AWESOME accomplishments.