Is there no respect of place, persons, nor time in you? --William Shakespeare

Where on Earth is the respect these days? I know you all know that I work in a middle school. Middle school kids are the devil. The majority of them are rude, disgusting, and have no boundaries. I swear it seems as though each of them were raised in a jungle of overly sexual barbarians. I have had male students tell me about their sexual conquests. I have had female students talk about their lady parts, ask for pregnancy tests, and ask me how they can know if they have an STD. On a daily basis, students barge into my office with no respect for me, my time, or the person I am meeting with or speaking to on the phone. Students constantly take pencils without asking, open drawers that do not have their names on them, and demand that I listen to them. I've had students borrow items from my office and never return them. I've had students break dress code, but refuse to wear the clothes that I work hard to obtain through seeking donations. Even after I tell said students that I take the clothes home and use my own detergent and water to wash them after a student wears them, the kids still throw a fit and say the clothes are disgusting. I am not sure when Aeropostale, Hollister, American Eagle, and Lucky Brand jeans became disgusting, but apparently it happened while I was becoming old in my 25 years of age. I have had a lot of contact and experience with these type of kids and I constantly have to remind myself that I am not allowed to call their parents, give them an earful about how to raise their kids, and pleasantly go back to my day.

Today, I was unloading my car since I had to work the two inclement weather days. Being that I could not work in my office on campus, I had to load my car full of my workload and take it to our main office. So here I am this morning, unloading my car and trying to find the most efficient way to carry as much as I can into the building so that I don't have to take too many trips back and forth. I loaded my laptop bag with my purse, lunchbox, and was carrying a box of envelopes, two large envelopes full of letters I need to mail to students and volunteers, and trying to figure out how to carry the remaining items. TWO male staff members see me struggling and just kept walking. I will not say who they are or what their campus positions are, but let me just say that both of them are in positions where they do not have a classroom full of horny teenagers to teach 1st period. So they had a few minutes to spare to help a woman out. One of them even said hello to me and kept walking. The other one made eye contact, watched me struggle for a moment, then went into the school. Now, I am not saying that women need to depend on men. I would still be posting this even if the two staff members were female. There's no harm in at least asking a person if they need a helping hand.

Moving on. I am rolling up to the door, students are going to their classes (we hope), and a few students see me struggling to get the door open. Luckily, the door hadn't been locked yet (it isn't locked until 1st period begins) so at least I wasn't trying to figure out how to unlock the door while loaded down. Not one single student opened the door or offered to help me with anything. I was beside myself and had to refrain from smarting off to them and calling them out on their rude behavior. I get to my door (which I did have to unlock since I lock it any time I am out of my room because some students seem to think that they can take whatever they want from wherever they want). There are some students and two teachers standing near my door. Did any of them offer to help? (Are you catching the pattern here?) I dropped the items off in my office, grabbed my cart, and headed back out to my car for more stuff. This time, I am unloading crackers and snacks FOR THE STUDENTS. One student saw me coming, held the door for me, and even said, "You're welcome" when I told her, "Thank you".

My faith in the new generation for a future of respectful adults has not yet been restored, but at least it's not completely lost! There's still hope!