The Year Of The Jerk
My old friend Kevin Cullen, a columnist for the Boston Globe, wrote a great piece a few weeks back. It was built around the theme “the year of the jerk.” He got that one right.
In the piece, he talks about the Ryder Cup. Ya know, where the best golfers from the USA play the best golfers from Europe. There’s no prize money for this tournament. It’s played for pride and, as Kevin says, bragging rights.
I always thought golfers had bad taste, but they usually have high standards of conduct at least. Since most European fans couldn’t come because of COVID restrictions, the gallery for this event was almost all Americans. And the Americans won in a rout.
But the beer-swilling fans booed and heckled the Europeans. No let-up. Cullen said they set a new standard for “rude and crude.” Which is in line with everything else lately. Ruder and cruder by the day. Doesn’t matter what generation.
This year, the FAA investigated more cases of rage on airplanes than in the past six years combined. What about road rage? Or restaurant rage? 62% of restaurant workers say they’ve received abusive treatment this year. Because social media is everywhere, teenagers are constantly in a state of high alert about criticism and rejection. Online bullying leaves kids walking on eggshells. We’re watching rumbles erupt at college football games. In high school, fans are hurling racial slurs and other nasty insults at players. And these are parents. Coaches are forfeiting games and walking off.
What the Christ? We’re becoming a nation of thugs.
I gotta tell ya, though. I kinda sensed some hope last Sunday after I dropped my son Jake off at MassArt in Boston. I drove into the worst traffic jam I’ve ever seen on the Pike. Felt like hours and hours. I thought frustrated drivers might blow a cork and turn the Pike into a demolition derby. It didn’t happen, Jack. You’d pass a car, that car would pass you. Again and again. Sort felt like ya knew ‘em. And when you looked over for the tenth time, the expressions were, “Hey, what are ya gonna do?”
Two college kids in an old Audi were with me from Boston to Sturbridge. They knew I was in front of them and I knew they were behind me. And when they veered right to jump off at the Sturbridge exit, they waved goodbye and I waved back. Hey everybody stayed cool, civil, no mishaps and we followed the rules of the road.
Sometimes we need to ride things out. Keep your dukes up.