I was brought up in a house where please and thank you’s weren’t expected they were required. Most parents raise there kids to say please and thank you, and to show proper manners, but somewhere along the way manners are usually forgotten or lost. It amazes me to this day how people my age and older forget these simple exchanges of kindness. Something as small as a "please" or a "thank you," or a "hello" to a stranger on the street can make a world of difference in the society we live in today. People today are too caught up in their own problems to worry about others and that really is a disturbing trend.

I believe that somewhere along the way, children are taught that it's not cool to be polite, to be cool you have to swear every sentence and expect good things to come your way. Children are learning this from the movies they watch, from the television stations they watch and from the music they listen. We live in a world where such music as Jay-z's song "Can I get a Fu*k You?" and Mystikal's "Shake Ya As*,' gets everyday play on the radio. What kind of message does this send to children listening to these songs that have lyrics such as " B$tches betta have my, money fo' sho'," and " don't f@ck with me and they don't Y'all b*tches cant catch me and you won't." Why is it necessary for these artists to use that kind of language? I was always taught that even though a swear word could be very expressive, it takes an even more intelligent person to use another word.

Think about a recent movie that you have seen and think about how many times a person in that movie swears, its now common to watch a movie on a network station and hear some swearing. For those of you who don't believe me, realize that the average motion picture movie has swearing every 10 minutes. I, did some research and the only recent box office hit without any swearing was the "Sixth Sense." What caused our society to divert from the wholesome American way and enter into the street thug ghetto mentality.

I'm now twenty one years old and i can honestly say that I have lived with my parents all of my life and i have never sworn at them and i have never heard them swear. As I write this, I often wonder what the world would be like if everyone were to treat each other with more respect, what would happen if we were to tone down the language in the movies and the music. What would happen if we were to hold the media accountable. But maybe thats not the answer, maybe it goes deeper than that.