Last week I went to a St. Louis Cardinals game. This isn't out of the ordinary of course, especially for those that live so close to St. Louis like myself. Something happened that irritated me enough to have to write about it, however.I believe it is just a glimpse of a much larger societal problem, or problems that we have here in the US.

I wasn't planning on going to the game until a few hours before, so I had to get a seat by myself, away from those who were going. This isn't a big deal as I am happy to pay 6 dollars to watch the game in person. I ended up having the entire row to myself, which sounds wonderful, but it ended up being less than ideal. In the section just across the aisle (the section that I had to look past to see home plate) was a full section of sorority girls. For the sake of not calling anyone out I'll just say that they were from Shmindenwood University, and members of Shmelta Shmeta. The first inning went just fine, as most of them were decently respectful of those around them. When the second inning rolled around, they proceeded to stand up, yell, take pictures and constantly block any sort of view I had of the game. This continued through the entirety of their duration of staying at the game. (They only stayed through the seventh. They weren't paying attention anyway). It even continued when I said something as well as the Busch Stadium crew members did too. I'm happy that I at least got to see the final innings unimpeded.

To begin, my anger is not rooted in who these girls were. I have no bias for or against any group of people, but for the sake of identification i chose to include the names. That being said, I do not agree with anything that they did and believe that all of them need to learn respect. Let's talk about each problem individually:

First, I think it is extremely wasteful to buy tickets to a game only to ignore it completely. In major baseball towns like St. Louis, oftentimes It is very difficult to get tickets, or any other of the accommodations need to attend the game: transportation, hotel, etc. depending on your needs. There are plenty of people in the St. Louis area that love to go to games, and are often not able to because of one of these limitations. If you do not want to watch the game, or care about baseball at all you should take the money for those tickets and go to a bar or club or wherever else has a good background for your Instagram pictures. I feel that this is similar to buying groceries that someone else may want, but just throwing it straight in the garbage and feeling good just because you could buy them. What is the sense in that?

Second, you all are not above the rest of us. Although I am a pretty firm believer in not caring what others think about you, which they obviously did not, blatant disregard for the people around you in society is just plain wrong. Please respect the fact that I paid money to watch my favorite team just like the other 50 people you are blocking, especially in such a crucial time of the season. In addition, when myself and the people around my are obviously agitated because of your actions enough to bring them up, maybe you are not in the right.

Third, they showed no respect for any kind of authority. They mocked the gentlemen from the Busch Stadium crew that were very kind in asking them to sit down and respect those around them. They even broadcasted their disdain to all of those around them, including myself, only to get a less than favorable reply from me. One young woman's parents even came to her aid as though she were a victim in this, showering her with food and gifts just because she was unhappy with us, and further blocking my view of the game by sitting in the aisle and consoling her. Are you serious? Is this really happening?

I didn't write this piece because I feel so wronged that I can't get past it. It is one game, one small chunk of my life and I shook it off. I wrote this because it seems to me that much of our society lacks the common courtesy of their fellow man. This is much bigger than everyday interactions, and dramatically bigger than the event that I was in. Let us take any incident that has been newsworthy recently: Killing, rioting, looting, muckraking, theft and anything else that has been displayed for all the world to see. Where is the respect for fellow man? No officer of the law can do his job without major scrutiny. No political candidate can fight for what they believe without personal attacks and claims of racism or any other "-ism" being thrust upon them. It is difficult for anyone to speak their mind in our society because those that disagree shun those who stand for it.

Comparing what happened to me and others around me to any of these major injustices isn't fair. The actions in themselves are vastly different and have no commonality. What is fair to compare is the ideas that bring forth these actions. These ideas include superiority, victimhood, entitlement, disrespect, inability to accept one's actions/repercussions of those actions. Overall we live in a society where entitlement us too often accepted. "I am a part of ______ so I can do what I want." "I have ______ so I am better than others." "I was born _____ so I must be a victim." All of these are garbage. Your actions define you, and that is often or not accepted. Your skin color, sex, religion or any other element is not what defines you. How you treat others is. This group of young women have defined themselves to me and anyone else there that night as disrespectful, entitled and plain rude. Do not let yourself be like them. I contend that we wouldn't have most of the problems we do, if we truly understood what respect is and what it isn't.