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Bloggy Blog #16

 I guess I'm either just old-fashioned, or an old fart (probably both), but a brief moment during this year's Westminister Kennel Club Dog Show made me cringe for what remains of our culture. Lost among all the captivating bulldogs, dalmatians, sheepdogs and other breeds was the lack of care by some human beings during what should be a considerable duteous moment.

The guilty party in question? Some gal in the stands. That's right, in the stands. She had nothing to do with the show at all. Well, she kind of did. She paid her $55.00 to get in and watch all the adorable doggies. Totally worth the cost of admission, sure. But what she did...what...she...did...!

Unfortunately I do not have a screen grab of the incident. What I do have, however, is a grab from a sporting event that depicts the exact same thing. Maybe it's the same girl, who knows.

Can you spot it?

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not some sort of patriotic nationalist or anything of the sort. You don't have to place your hand over your heart during the National Anthem. Heck, if you're ill enough you don't even have to stand. People take their hats off, and that's respectful. What's not respectful is texting while the anthem is happening. This is probably the lowest of the lows, perhaps right up there with flashing middle fingers up in the sky, or maybe even inciting a brawl right then and there. There's simply no place for this. You have the entire 2-3 hour game or event that you paid to get into to text your BFFs - so why do you need to do it during a brief, and I mean brief, maybe four minute song beforehand? Put the damn phone down. 

Or wait, you can't put the phone down, can you? We live our lives now with screens in our faces eighteen hours a day. We keep these screens in our faces while eating breakfast, maybe brushing our teeth, driving to work, sitting at work, walking down the street, happy hours at the bar, while our kids talk to us at the dinner table, after dinner, laying in bed. Guess I'm just expecting too much for others to put the phone away for an important moment. But like this girl above and the one at the Dog Show, why should we? If it's not on our screens, it's irrelevant, right?

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