America – Home of the Shameless

Just the other day I saw a youtube of women fighting in a fast food parking lot. On top of it all, the main antagonist was obviously pregnant. My embarrassment won't let me link to it, but the imagery stayed with me. These combatants, with their clothes and hair weaves in disarray, showed no reluctance to put themselves or their animosities on public display. No one had any shame, and hence, the title of this post.

Some may see this proclamation as a no brainer, but what is not obvious is how it clearly spells out our reduction. You heard me right – the absence of shame will be our great un-doing. Yes, releasing ourselves from shame was suppose to free us, but it did just the opposite. Our ability to feel shame, a critical skill for advancing, is missing-in-action. What we need in this country is some good old fashion shame building. You heard it here folks.

What? First of all, the rich have no shame, they flaunt their wealth as if it springs from DNA that they composed with their own MacBook Pro, while listening to iTunes. But on the other side, the poor also have no shame, as they stand idle on the street corner smoking a cigarette, while talking on a cell phone, and with a sign that says ‘homeless please help'. As I move pass them, I always wonder where they got the ‘free’ cell (I have to pay for mine).

The educated have no shame. They drop the names of fancy schools, degrees, and store-bought SAT scores to-boot. And let’s not forget that school cheating, by students and teachers, is significant and rising. The un-educated too have no shame, boldly showing off a profound ignorance in every direction and manner, that has them graduate or drop out (take your pick) of high school with somewhere near an eight grade attainment.

Moving on, the beautiful have no shame as they prance around saying, ‘look at me, look at me, and don’t hate me because I’m so beautiful'. They buy fake this and that, and leave the price tag showing as well. Unsurprisingly, the ugly have no shame either, as they work to draw greater attention to the superficial gifts they think they did not receive, by way of billboard-sized tattoos, hollow-point piercings and other self-mutilation showing how twisted-proud they are of their ugliness.

But it’s not just outliers with shame disabilities. The masses have no shame, as they lie, cheat, and fabricate at every turn. Whatever is said or done is twisted to its opposite meaning, up is down, good is bad, right is wrong, from the tabloids to the White House. When caught in lies – you guessed it – we try to lie our way out. “I swear I did not have sex with that woman!”

Granted, shamelessness was not invented here and is on the upswing worldwide, but America is leading the charge nonetheless. Unless we somehow rediscover the shame in our behavior. Unless we re-learn the embarrassment that has always corrected our aim, humanity will continue to miss the mark, and we are done.

Have a good weekend.

James C. Collier

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