Thoughts of the week….

So, I was at home again all of last week, I strategically took my last remaining holidays of the year so that I worked on xmas and new years week, but because the office and the client base would be very quiet, I could amble my way through the remaining two weeks of the year. This year has zipped past very very quickly, and I think I will do a recap post plus a new years resolutions post pretty soon!

I spent my week catching up with lost friends, reading some books which I have bought over the last few months, and cooking! I have been trying some new dishes, with generally satisfying outcomes. Nobody has been ill at home because of the food, so I am sure I can tick some check boxes for that!

My mom was in Leicester last week; she was helping out my cousins who had a new addition to the family! We went to pick her up at the weekend, and during the course of the weekend, I encountered the strangest behaviour from one individual who is living in civilized society!

I have a 14 year old cousin… lets call him dumbassP. Now dumbassP is the son of my Mom’s brother, and is staying with my Grandparents at the moment because his folks are currently away and are back next week (they have gone on pilgrimage – Hajj). dumbassP is pretty clever at school and was pretty decent at sport etc. He however has a HUUUUUGEEEE attitude problem – lemme explain as I saw from my experience at the weekend:

1. When we reached on Friday, he was sleeping upstairs in my grandparents’ house. When he woke up and came down at about 10pm, he stood and was staring at us as if we were aliens from out of space. It took one of us to greet him before he said anything resembling a word. (No respect for elders (don’t spin the situation that he just woke up – this kid is a jackass!))*
2. My grandma gave him the options for his dinner… he inturn wanted burgers for dinner and told my grandma in a very demeaning way to make them for him. (Still no frigging respect for elders) His parents are constantly of the view that food shouldn’t be wasted, so it’s annoying that this little twit behaved this way.
3. He brought his food to the living room (even though he was told not to), and started chewing loudly and eating. (WTF!) When he had his soft drink, he slurped his way through the drink. Finally, to polish up his act, he kept burping out loud with every sip of the soft drink that he took. My younger brother told him that it was inappropriate to behave like that, and if he was going to behave like so, then he should atleast not do so amongst a group of people. His response to that was a long cold stare at my brother.
4. Every time he coughed or sneezed, he didn’t cover his mouth/nose.
5. When he walked, he dragged his feet on the carpet, not lifting them once.
6. On Saturday morning, he woke up in the morning and saw me using my grandads PC. He swore at me for using the PC when he wanted to.
7. He turned the music on his mobile up to the highest possible volume level and walked around everywhere with gangster rap blaring out of the phone. Some neighbours came over to my grandads for a bit with two of their younger kids; the lyrics were in line with “I’m gonna fuck you bitch” and “I ain’t taking motherfucking orders from a bum fucker”. What in gods name would possess a human being to behave like so – I really don’t know. The little kids were old enough to pick up the lyrics, if they would understand it – well that’s another story. No matter what dumbassP was told, he just ignored it like the person telling him doesn’t exists.

The thing is, he does this in front of his parents (well – when he does leave his room, and is not glued to the Internet or a games console).  My worry is that this is not an isolated case. If you look at kids within that age range today, you will see the exact same behaviour everywhere. I really don’t understand what is so appealing in fast food. I don’t know why people need to walk around with their mobile phones blaring loud music. More over – WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO LISTENING TO YOUR ADULTS AND GROWNUPS? What would make a 14 year old think that he knows it all, and can do what he wants?

I worry for the current teenage generation (atleast in the UK). I guess this says a lot about the society in which we are living at the moment. The fact the parents of these kids do not recognise these issues and/or are not trying to do anything about them, says a lot about the parents. I mentioned a few posts back that I was out shopping and all I could hear was kids screaming for stuff and parents screaming back at them that they could not have whatever they wanted. I am no parent, so I don’t know to what extent my views are true, but I really feel that a lot of people have forgotten how to raise their kids.

* In the indian/south-asian community – this is the first thing that you are taught. Someone younger always shows respect to the older person (regardless of any issues between them). Greeting (like saying salam alaykum, or shalom, or hi) is simple or basic manners which even a kid a couple of years old will demonstrate.

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