It Starts with a Shopping Cart.

With our first child on the way, I notice kids around me more.  At the grocery store, at the bank, in the neighborhood.  Maybe I’m looking for insight on their actions, or maybe I’m just pondering how my child will behave.  I guess its similar to when we had our roof replaced… all of the sudden I noticed everyone else’s choice in shingle colors and style.  Except this… this is a kid.  A little person that will grow up to inherit the nation and a place in the world.

So when I was at the grocery store the other day I noticed a kid shopping with what I can only assume was his grandmother.  I saw them again as I was sitting in my car about to leave.

I used to make trips like that with my grandmother to the store or Kmart and remember them quite fondly.  Some of the most basic life lessons were taught or reinforced on my shopping trips with grandma.  You can’t always have everything you want.  Throwing a tantrum will get you nowhere, but it might earn you a sore bottom.  Always say please, thank you, yes ma’am, yes sir.  And always, always open the door for a woman.

And this young kid seemed to be soaking up his experience equally as well.  He seemed to have fun, likely got a new toy.  His grandmother opened the car and the young child no more than 5 or 6 hopped in the backseat as grandma unloaded the groceries.  And then she took the empty cart and pushed it out of her way a bit, popped in her car and took off.

At once the casual observation of a soon-to-be father full of nostalgia turned into feelings of disgust.

Grandma got around pretty well.  She maneuvered the store unassisted, walked to her car just fine, and loaded groceries into a car by herself.  She clearly was able to watch and take care of a young child.  Surely she was equally capable of pushing the empty cart 25 feet or so to the cart return.  But she didn’t.  With an impressionable child in the car, grandma taught him an inadvertent lesson.  There is no personal responsibility.  Take the easy way out.  The only thing that matters is yourself.

I see people do this all the time and it drives me nuts.  Why is it that you think you don’t have to put the shopping cart back where it belongs?  I know grandma wasn’t raised that way… but that is how she’s teaching her grandson.  Maybe she figures someone is “paid to do that” or maybe she figures it isn’t a big deal.  But grandma, it is a big deal… its representative of a really really big deal.

Every day throughout every facet of our lives, we all have our own shopping carts to put up.  Do we put trash in a trashcan or throw it on the ground?  Do we meet deadlines or make excuses?  Do we work when the boss isn’t looking or browse facebook and twitter?  Do we keep our word or just say what others want to hear?  Do we pay or taxes and our debts or default because things got tight?  Do we blame others for our problems or take responsibility for ourselves?

The cart is symbolic of our nation… and like grandma, most of our fellow countrymen seem too bothered to take an extra few seconds to do what’s right.  It’s easier letting someone else worry about it, right?

Our government is spending money it doesn’t have, mortgaging our children’s future and risking our nation’s security.  Why?  Because its politically easier that way.  Let the next guy deal with it.

My governor is raising burdensome taxes that are already driving business out of our state and will put thousands of residents out of work.  Why?  Its easier than cutting programs and pork.  Let the next guy deal with it.

Some of your neighbors quit paying their mortgage payment, not because they couldn’t but because they no longer wanted to.  Its easier that way.  Let the bank deal with it.

And grandma doesn’t take a few extra seconds to put her cart back.  Its easier that way.  Let someone else deal with it.

What are we teaching our children?  Where did our nation and our culture go wrong?  Putting shopping carts up saves insurance costs, labor costs and cart costs for the grocery store… but it doesn’t seem to directly impact grandma so she doesn’t care.  Its someone else’s problem.  But its not about the shopping cart.  The shopping cart is a symptom of a national decay.

If you don’t think these things are linked, you’re crazy.  Personal Responsibility starts with the simplest things.  The same mindset that excuses not putting your cart away is the same mindset that excuses not voting, not paying your bills, not taking responsibility for yourself.  It is the same mindset that lets our government get out of control because people don’t take seriously their responsibility to become informed and get involved.

The downfall of our nation started with the downfall of personal responsibility.  As a nation we can decide now to clean up after ourselves and start taking responsibility for our own actions.  We can make the hard decisions, make the painful cuts, and stand-up to the people who are out of control.  Our we can leave our cart sitting in the middle of the parking lot and hope that someone else will come along and clean up our mess.