{"id":781,"date":"2020-01-01T01:00:18","date_gmt":"2020-01-01T01:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/humble-thoughts.com\/?p=781"},"modified":"2023-03-13T23:07:53","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T22:07:53","slug":"the-elbow-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humble-thoughts.com\/?p=781","title":{"rendered":"The Elbow Society"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As I walked into a local supermarket this evening, I was somewhat daunted by a rather well-rounded lady, standing in the doorway. To endorse her control over her<\/em> space, she just stood there, arms akimbo, elbows outstretched, to prevent anyone within a two-meter radius of moving past her. Her persuasive posture took on an even more foreboding assertiveness, as she swung around to relocate to an adjoining plot. It made a forbidding prospect of actually getting past her and through the entrance, unharmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2014, the Education Minister in England claimed that those students with pushy parents achieve more of their potential. \u00abHelicopter parenting\u00bb has now been replaced by \u00absharp-elbow parenting\u00bb, which according to the minister is essential to secure the most rewarding future for their offspring. How sad is that? So, brainy children (in this case) are not recognised by the virtue of their own merits, rather more, the intrusive drive of their parents. (Good luck to the teachers at parents evening). By definition, children from backgrounds where overstressed or single parents don’t have the time or impetus to propel their kids to a master’s degree, simply lose out. And apathetic kids who depend on being propped up by ambitious parents forget to develop an appropriate sense of personal responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It reminded me of today’s often desolate evolution in the public arena.\nNot for nothing is it often referred to as the \u00abelbow society\u00bb as we, rather\nmore courteous folks, try to navigate through the alpha-types in these\nnarcissistic times. Maybe we are gradually becoming aware of those who wish to\nelbow us out of the way, on their journey to dream their dream. Social skills\nis not a faculty that is educated in schools, but in order to maintain a\nhealthy society, maybe it should be. Perhaps the system of \u00abfirst past the\npost\u00bb simply encourages the audacious of the species to push and shove,\nregardless of how many souls are elbowed into capitulation. Understanding,\nempathy and generosity seem to be antiquated values that have ever less place\nin modern civilisation. We can only speculate on how our society in general\nwill be perceived if this unfortunate trend endures. Driving home through the rush-hour\ntraffic, it seemed to me this evening, that even the cars have elbows, as they\ntry to out-manoeuvre each other in the battle to be first. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do we really want our future generations to achieve the maximum at simply any price? I can’t speak for the multitudes, but for myself, I feel most at home with tolerant, compassionate, helpful and generous people, regardless of their status in life –  those who simply do their best. Life is not a boxing ring! I believe our children deserve to learn the real values of life, and not aggressive tactical behaviour, which is guaranteed to fracture our already sensitive community structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe it’s now time to transform this elbow society into a revival\nof the community life of yesteryear. Call me old-fashioned, but a little more\ngoodwill, respect and empathy would transmute our progressively congested world\ninto a more pleasant place to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Photo: Pixabay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I walked into a local supermarket this evening, I was somewhat daunted by a rather well-rounded lady, standing in the doorway. To endorse her control over her space, she just stood there, arms akimbo, elbows outstretched, to prevent anyone within a two-meter radius of moving past her. Her persuasive posture took on an even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,185],"tags":[74,75],"class_list":["post-781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-topics","category-odds-sods","tag-elbow-society","tag-parents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humble-thoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humble-thoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humble-thoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humble-thoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humble-thoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=781"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/humble-thoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":817,"href":"https:\/\/humble-thoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781\/revisions\/817"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humble-thoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humble-thoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humble-thoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humble-thoughts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}