Grow up America.

 As I sit in a small town, totally unique, totally cool restaurant I am subjected to some of the ugliest customer behavior that can be displayed. As I watch this duo consisting of a middle aged woman and a woman just entering into her dawn (early-20's) of life walk in and they look around at the clientele and the atmosphere, roll there eyes and then decide that there isn't any other place they can go so they resolve to sit, eat and take a 20 min break between shopping trips, looking for the fantastic deals offered by chain stores over this Veterans Day weekend. The gourmet hot dog restaurant is a rarity for the area of the country that I and the stuck up American shopper finds themselves in. Tho, the variety and uniqueness of this restaurant and other like it are suddenly starting to catch on in these desolate downtown areas of middle America's Heartland. The duo order their food during the afternoon rush in a restaurant that encourages its customers to sit, enjoy their food, enjoy the company and to enjoy the atmosphere that surrounds them. This duo didn't get that. They didn't get that this is a community space not just a restaurant. After 5 minutes of waiting, they complained to the management that they hadn't received their food yet and that the waitress, the same waitress I had, hadn't provided enough service. The waitress had been dealing with the rush of customers that had followed the duo and I. The manager shook her head in agreement and offered compensation to the skewed duo to make things "right". Then after scarfing down their gourmet food, they left without tipping. All this got me thinking that maybe Americans do need to grow up a bit, including myself. Having just suffered through the longest, dirtiest elections in American history, and suffering a loss at that, combined with seeing this rude duo and some deep personal self reflection on the things I believe compared to what the country decided as a whole for the direction and future of our country, I've decided that as a whole, we need to grow up! America has always been the bastard, upstart, cocky child of everything that proceeded it. And that attitude has served us well until just recently. Recently, I believe, America and Americans have left childhood/ high school where we were the big fish in a smallish pond and has now entered in its freshman year of college. I don't know about you but my freshman was awkward. Very, very awkward. I thought I'd be the shit entering into my campus as the small time, small town basketball star as America is entering into a global sized campus as the freshman that hit the last second shot to win state by winning World War II with the help of the rest of the world. Usually, the help is mostly unrecognized, as it is in any budding, small town sports hero. With this election being over and my side losing, I entered into a de-political phase where I cut all information coming to me out. I blocked all things political on Facebook, twitter and mainstream media for a week. During that week instead of pouting or lamenting on my sides loss, I thought about what I need to change personally. The first and only change I'm sharing here is the need to grow up! America needs to grow up and join the global community, leading from a position of leadership instead of waning popularity gained on past performances. We need to grow up as a people that doesn't complain about service at a gourmet hot dog place thinking that it's McDonalds instead of a unique dining experienced that it is. We are no longer a society of "got to have it now" but a society of instant information that we need to contemplate on, instead of making instant decisions. The news isn't the news anymore. The papers aren't the papers anymore. Gather your info but not your decisions until you can pass them over life experiences and your morels and then make your decision, not others decisions, just yours. So in conclusion, grow up America, move a little slower, take a little more time, don't rush to be important. Importance will find us. We are America, we have, are and will be important!