Charlie snapped this picture for me when he was loading up on sweet cherries, our favorite, at the local supermarket. Fortunately for us the cherries are in plastic bags. Otherwise I guess we might have found pits in with the cherries!
Somehow this sign seems to capture some generalized disregard for other people including who have to clean up after them and those liable to slip and fall. It also tells us that people are munching on cherries they haven’t purchased. The store seems to have given up on that battle. In a similar way shoplifters are breezing out of stores knowing the clerks have been told not to confront them. As I wrote recently drivers increasingly see red lights as suggestions, not mandates.
Why should we behave? Why should we regard others with compassion? Why should we care about anyone else? For a very long time we all have benefitted from the remnant of religious teachings. I see signs that suggest that influence has diminished. Too much attention has been given to the unique, the extraordinary, and rare. I can only hope that we can reclaim the common: common good, common sense, common courtesy and common compassion. We are stronger together than apart.
Saved By Words 
How very practical!
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That’s a good point.
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I do hope that we can reclaim the common: common good, common sense, common courtesy and common compassion, but in the me too world that we live in now, I’m not too hopeful…….
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One of the people at our local Target store told me they are instructed just to let shoplifters take off and not try to stop them. Of course, the rest of us ultimately pay for the loss of their merchandise.
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We heard the same at Home Depot. There at least it is organized crime and an interstate task force arrested a group recently. They were selling the tools online!
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Sad but true. There’s even a sign next to the dressed up Coulon Walker statues, to not take the clothes and other items they’re dressed with. 😐
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So well said, Elizabeth
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Thanks.
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Cherries (and grapes) in shops here are sold pre-packed for that very reason. Shoplifting is also reaching epidemic proportions here due to very low fines for those caught and convicted, making it more attractive than actually paying for goods.
As for going back to common decency, I fear that ship has long sailed.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Well I guess I am out to sea on that ship!
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The clinic tells me patients steal the very nice robes lent for mammograms. Pretty shameless.
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So many are raised to not think about others.
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Well said, Elizabeth, although I fear there will be no change within my lifetime!
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Amen!
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I agree, Elizabeth! Somehow, society has lost its answerability over the years and it is each person to his own now. I remember when I was 15 and I had spoken harshly to my maid, I had earned an immediate censure from mother (and a slap on a cheek). But now, we are pampering our kids to a level where they can be inconsiderate to others without worrying about our reaction.
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