In the month of May, when all of us who root for the
Los Angeles Kings were going about our business, I found that in some ways,
society has reached a new low.
I am specifically referring to my attendance at game
six of the playoff game between the Los Angeles Kings and the Colorado
Rockies. I went to the game planning to
have a high old time and root the Kings on so they could stay alive in the
series, as they were down three games to two.
I almost didn’t make it to the game, as the friend
with whom I was to attend the game was not available; however, on Sunday
morning (it was a Sunday night game), another good friend called and indicated
he wanted to go. I then called Ticket
Master and was happily surprised to find that two choice seats had opened up
(on Saturday there were no tickets available).
I purchased them, and several hours later we headed for the game.
We got to the Staples Center smoothly enough. I so much prefer attending events there
rather than making the long drive to the Forum and getting caught in heavy
traffic jams both on the way there and on the way back. At Staples, you can park a few blocks away
and walk, and not have to deal with much in the way of traffic when you leave.
What caught my attention on this evening, however, is
the fact that when my friend Dave and I went to get some food and drink, among
that which we ordered were several containers of Aquafina water. These are the containers that you can buy at
a gas station, at a 7-11, in your supermarket, or wherever. It didn’t have to be Aquafina, it could have
been any water. Since Dave and I
planned only one food and drink trip, we decided to stock up for the whole
game. (At that time neither of us knew
that the Kings would win, but not until double overtime.) With the above in mind, I ordered three
waters. The woman behind the counter
proceeded to unscrew the cap of each water.
She then put the three capless waters on my tray. I asked her what was going on. Obviously, I would rather keep the caps on
the two waters I wasn’t going to drink until I was ready to drink them, not to
mention the fact that it would make the trip back to our seats a little less
adventurous if the water was capped.
The woman very politely indicated that they could no longer allow caps
to go with the water containers to the seats because of concerns that people
would throw the caps onto the ice and potentially injure the hockey players.
Is this what it has come to? You can’t go to a sports event and buy some
water without them taking the caps off?
How pathetic is that? Has it
come to this? Have we fallen so far?
I find this to be extremely troubling. No so troubling that I couldn’t enjoy the
Kings’ victory; however, I started to wonder in what other areas of society
this either has taken place or will be taking place. I mean, I haven’t been to the zoo lately, but can I still feed
the animals? Are they not going to sell
me peanuts because they’re afraid that I might zap an orangutan right between
the eyes? And what about those
delicious soft pretzels; you know, the ones with the salt? If you let one of those puppies sit for an
hour or so, it tends to harden quite significantly. I was somewhat surprised that I could still purchase one of them
at the hockey game, as it could become a formidable weapon. I mean, is the time going to come when all
they will serve is cotton candy? By
then the dental industry may have put an end to that because I imagine all that
sugar is bad for your teeth.
I am not suggesting that I have the answer. I guess I’m still startled that there is a
question. I do, however, in the future
plan to closely monitor any similar changes that I notice. One that I do support is the fact that if I
go to see a play, before the play starts people are admonished to turn off
their cell phones, their pagers, and if they are going to have some candy
during the play, to unwrap it now so that your fellowtheater-goers will not be
disrupted during the performance. I’ve
gotten used to that announcement, as I happen to see a lot of plays; however, I
remember being happy when I first heard the announcement because I was getting
tired of hearing peoples’ cell phones ringing or pagers going off. Yet, I was also discouraged in that it was a
reminder to me as to how flat-out rude and/or impolite people can be at times. If you’re sitting at a play or attending a
classical music concert or a tennis match or some other event in which people
are to be quiet, should people really have to be told to turn off their cell
phones? Are people so self-involved
that they can’t figure that out for themselves? Unfortunately, I believe the answer is yes, and despite the
warnings, I still hear an occasional pager go off, or someone who buys a wrist
watch and feels the need to be alerted at the top of each hour, will have his
wrist watch give a couple of those familiar and annoying beeps every sixty
minutes or every thirty minutes, depending on how he has it set.
What I am trying to say is that from bottle caps to
pagers, if we would all behave just a little bit better, we wouldn’t need to be
protected from those around us and from ourselves. If we didn’t throw bottle caps onto the ice, if we were
considerate enough to put the pager on “vibrate,” we wouldn’t be at a point in
time in our society in which the above actions have to be taken.