Call Me Mr. Mason Please!

     As I get older and more crotchety I'm finding that I like less and less how younger generations are coming about.  In particular, I have an issue with children addressing adults by their first name.  I was raised by my parents, relatives, teachers and other adults to address adults as Sir or Ma'am or Mr. or Mrs. but to never call an adult by their first name.  Calling an adult by their first name implies familiarity and a level of equality with them that a child does not possess.

      I'm amazed at how many people under 18 address adults by their first name.  I also don't address people I barely know by their first name.  Again, addressing someone by their first name implies familiarity which is something you don't gain in five minutes of meeting them.

      This whole thing starts with parents.  It's a parents responsibility to teach their children proper conduct in the presence of adults.  Parents do their children a disservice by allowing their children to carry themselves any kind of way with no guidance or correction.  When the child turns into an adult and has to operate in an adult system he will struggle in social settings simply because no one corrected him as a child.  I see evidence of this everyday with teenagers and twenty-somethings constantly cursing in public settings like they don't know any other word than "eff" this and so and so.  My mother would have slapped the black off of me if she heard me curse.  Even to this day I rarely curse and when I do it's under my breath and far away from my mother.

     So, as an adult, we have a responsibility to the younger generations to carry ourselves in a manner that is respectful and authoritative.  I treat everyone I meet with an automatic respect because unless they prove otherwise they deserve to be treated with respect.  If you know me, call me G.  If you don't, Mr. Mason is fine!