Is it or isn't it? Well met?

We have this whole forum here dedicated to the anti-timmie. After all, if you're over 26, you can't be one of them, can you?

What does it mean, anyway, to be a timmie? Let's see. Rude. Potty mouth. Obnoxious. Hurtful. Unhelpful. (Especially rude and mean to women/girls). Sexually provocative. In other words, it means the atittudes of any typical teenage boy who gets hard from using words his mommy won't let him use in the house, to say things he wouldn't never allow some other guy to say about his sister (but he can say them himself if he wants).

But maybe that's a distinction without a difference. Do you have to be under a certain age to be a Timmy? I suggest that any person stuck in pre-or mid-pubescent behavior patterns who gets a little to aroused by inappropriate sexual references and refuses to treat people online with the respect he/she MIGHT give them if they were eye-to-eye (might, but no guarantees there), is a Timmy.

They seem to come in all ages, both genders. Maybe what it really demonstrates is our acceptance of a much lower standard of behavior than we would accept into our house, our churches or our workplaces. (Or maybe not).

I think we've gotten so far away from a "civil" society these days we don't even know what it means anymore. When I was growing up (admittedly too long ago), saying some of the things we see everyday online was just considered mean spirited and meant to be provocative. Nobody spoke like we do now to anyone. The way that kids treat teachers and other adults is a real eye opener. But we just don't require a higher standard, and kids become adults...

Nowadays, folks feel free to share their opinions, provocative or otherwise, helpful or not, because hey...it's a free country. But free or not, unkind or snide commentary is still uncivil. The younger folks here maybe don't remember the days when politeness and respect were given until they were somehow unearned. Nowadays, respect only goes to those who have the biggest, rudest, whatever.

What the heck has happened to our society? Us older folks (!), ought to know better and set a better example. rather than learning from our grandkids how to act. Maybe we ought to set a higher bar and actually model that behavior, hopefully reversing the trend of mean speech and ugly behavior. Sadly, we don't set a good example many times, and often times we ridicule those who do. It's so much fun until we're on the receiving end of the jabs (joking though they are pretended to be). It has been said that every tease starts with a thinly veiled insult.

Take myself too seriously? This is just a discussion board... um...but does art imitate life, or does life imitate art? Is being rude behind a keyboard just a good excuse to be rude with impunity? Do we talk to people we know face to face the way we talk online? And if we do, do we have any friends? Real ones? People that would pull out their weapon and hop in and die for us if someone challenged us? Are we, in fact, well met?

Maybe if we were less like the children and timmies we claim to be trying to avoid, we might actually set a real example that might mean something, and in the process, we might prove to be people worthy of real friendship. But then again, maybe we'd be out there with people instead of interacting with cartoons? Maybe this is as good as it gets for folks who don't want to deal with real people.

But rude is rude, no matter what graphic you put next to it, or how anonymous you are online. Even if you don't believe it. Well met, indeed.