It occurs to me, every now and then, that, at various times, the same rules of behavior don't apply to everyone. There's the speeder who justifies this with being late for work, school, grocery shopping, whatever. There's the person who lets their dog out late at night so they won't have to pick up after their pet (but the neighbors do). There's the late-comer who comes to every meeting, dinner date, party, late (and "just can't help it"). There are those who postpone doing almost everything: calling an elderly relative, painting the living room (me), handing in work assignments, cutting out junk food, stacking wood, and so on (naturally, with good reasons). How about the person who brings 30 items to the '14 or fewer' line at the grocery store? I guess the top of the heap is the person who wriggles out of every situation with an excuse or denies responsibility: "I was sick", "my dog threw up on the carpet", "someone else lost it", "no one told me how to do it", and, of course, "it wasn't me". This person will continue their fiction even when proven wrong and will rarely admit they did something wrong. Sometimes, all of these can be one person.
The other day, my husband mispronounced a name he saw in the paper. He was telling me about an issue and showed me a picture of a politician. He drew out the name in a cartoon-like voice. Our 4 year old granddaughter immediately imitated him and kept going around the house saying the name over and over- in the same cartoonish voice. I think she thought we were making fun of the name, the person, or the situation and I had to tell her this wasn't so. (I had images of her doing this using the names of her friends at school.) Of course, she was confused.
Unconsciously, we confuse young people all the time - we tell them one thing (follow the rules, respect others, don't get in trouble, do your homework, be on time for school, be nice to others) but our actions say something entirely different.
