SHUT UP!

May I gripe for a moment?  I'm feeling the urge to get something off my chest...

About six months ago I took a long hard look at myself and said "I need to stop judging people."  I realized that, not only did I need to NOT judge people, but I most especially needed to NOT judge them out loud in front of my kids.  When you're a person that judges people, you also place an additional burden on yourself--assuming that everyone is judging you the way you are judging them.  It makes life hard...wondering what everyone is thinking about you...especially when, in reality, they aren't thinking about you at all.  So I have been making a concerted effort to be positive about people, to point out the positive, and to try to ignore the negative.  It's actually been working too, for the most part.

For example... a week ago when we went to Stake Conference we sat by a woman who was alone with two little kids.  The kids were noisy, crying, throwing toys all over the place (you know, acting like little kids in church).  Was it annoying and distracting?  Yes.  Did it bother me?  A little... but I was trying really hard to ignore it.  When we got home, one of the kids mentioned how annoying these kids were.  In an effort to be positive (especially with the kids watching but also because I need an attitude adjustment) I said "Yes, they were loud, but you have to admire that woman for coming to Stake Conference by herself and bringing them...because if it had been me I probably would have stayed home.  I think she was doing the best she could with them under the circumstances."  I have to admit, saying and thinking these things made the whole thing better.... I got a lot more out of Stake Conference when I stopped concentrating on the distraction. 

But now to my gripe.  I have tried and tried to be positive but I'm having no luck so I'm just going to lay it all out there, judge some people harshly and get on with my day...

A couple of weeks ago we went to Savannah's drama presentation at school.  We sat fairly close to the front so we could videotape and actually be able to hear her as she did her part.  Since all the classes were doing a presentation, the program went on a little long, and her class was 6th, so they were near the end.  When it came time to watch her, I realized we had a group of teenage girls sitting directly behind us that would not shut up.  Talking, laughing, phones beeping as they texted... I leaned forward in an effort to hear better and ignore them but it didn't work.  Patrick videotaped Savannah's portion of the program, but with all the yapping going on behind us, we can't even hear her on the tape.  Grrr....

Then, last night I went with Dylan to Sophomore Orientation.  The auditorium at the high school is huge, and the volume on the microphone was less than sufficient.  As they went through the directions for registering (and they have a new system they are going to use this year that needed explanation) I realized that, once again, I had been plagued with a group of teenage girls behind me again that would not SHUT UP!  Dylan commented more than once that he couldn't hear what he was supposed to do.  The girls behind me were asking questions of each other that, had they shut up and listened, would have been answered by the person doing the powerpoint presentation.  As I looked around, I saw other groups of girls elsewhere that were also running their mouths at top speed...but I sure didn't see many boys talking--even the ones sitting with their friends at least appeared to be listening (I'm sure somewhere in that huge auditorium there were boys talking too...but the girls were just very obvious!) I had many, many witty retorts for them, as well as some serious venom I wanted to spew  ...but since I realized Dylan would completely disown me (or start to cry because he was embarrassed to be seen with me) I held my tongue.

What is with teenage girls and their incessant need to have their gums flapping at every waking moment of the day?  I'm surprised they haven't realized yet that no one is even hearing them because they are all talking at the same time!  And most of the kids yesterday were there with at least one parent...so where were the parents?  Am I the only parent left that isn't afraid to tell their kid to shut the hell up and listen?  And considering I have an (almost teenage) daughter, it's time for some serious lessons in manners... (she IS a girl, and she LOVES to talk...or sing...or rhyme...sometimes it seems like she just likes the sound of her own voice... maybe that's what the problem is with ALL of them!)  Maybe I need to get a shirt made with words on the back that say "if your lips are moving, stop now.  I'm trying to listen."  I could probably think of something more to the point (and rude) but then they wouldn't let me into the meeting in the first place.

So...to all the teenage girls that will, unfortunately, end up sitting close to me at school events in the future... unless you are on fire or in other need of emergency services without which you will die immediately... please just stop talking.  Nothing you have to say is so important it can't wait...