Surviving the Rudeness Epidemic

Rodger Morrow

Editor & Publisher, Beaver County Business

Autumn has returned to Beaver County, bringing brilliant foliage, cooler evenings, and pickup trucks traveling close enough to inspect the contents of your glove compartment.

Americans suspect we are living through a rudeness epidemic. The evidence is everywhere: on the highway, in Facebook comment sections, and at Walmart, where a shopping cart parked sideways beside the canned beans can halt commerce across three counties.

The research is less amusing. Incivility is contagious. A single rude encounter can impair concentration, reduce cooperation, and make its victim more likely to pass the discourtesy along. One nasty remark may therefore travel through the community like a cold, although nobody brings soup.

In this week's From Rodger's Desk, Rodger Morrow considers how we arrived here - and how to survive without becoming another carrier. The remedies are surprisingly modest: pause before responding, ask a calm question, set a clear boundary, return the shopping cart, and remember that the cashier did not personally create inflation.

Courtesy will not repair the economy or improve the Steelers' offensive line. It may, however, make ordinary life in Beaver County bearable.

Read "Surviving the Rudeness Epidemic" at Beaver County Almanac before somebody cuts you off on the way there.

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