Hollow

So much for substance. Louder, faster, bolder, brasher, more, more, more cowbell! This is the new American Public.

Substance is gone. Quips are in their stead. Cliche powers the new lexicon. People spout and spray and rarely leave a mark on the thin air between their own lips.

The standard for passable discussion has sunken to the level that "dude" lives on, with his parents.

Who are these people holding court in a restaurant addressing a handset?

Where's the Constitutional whiteout?

I motion to have qualifiers on the Bill of Rights. Certain bodies must be barred! If common sense is something that is uniquely yours - out. If courtesy is something that is demanded but never given - out. All who expound on their opinion as 'right' - out!

Manners never require explanation or proper circumstance. Manners need only use. Usage is the meter by which manners are gauged.

Learn the language. Get the book. Buy the iTune. Ask your grandparents. Because the rest of us are unimpressed. You are hollow. Hollow as the picture of yourself in your own head. Hollow for all the reasons that ants understand and you are woefully unaware.

Take the chance to be you - the real you - and not the image of you on the silver screen inside your cortex. Laugh for the reasons that are meaningful. Talk to share and communicate - not just to exchange and be heard. Live to grow. Make your grandparents proud.

5 tips for successful living with the other 6+ billion of us

1. Keep the color and pattern of your underwear to yourself.
2. If you can't obey the laws, don't exacerbate the faux paux by acting entitled.
3. Even rock stars aren't rock stars if no one believes them to be (Yes you, "Ocho Cinco").
4. There is a thing called, "Age Appropriate Dress" you know? If you're wearing the same fashions as your college-aged child ...
5. Show of hands... how many people want to hear someone drop a name?