"Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."

Do you find kindness and civility missing in your world? Well, I sadly find this to be the case all too often in mine. When I started this post a few days ago it was going to be a rant. Now I'm back to my usual state of resignation and find myself expecting less and less from people. When did it become the norm to accept rudness? Is it so hard to smile at people as we walk through the mall or post office? Do you say hello and good bye? Do you say please and thank you?

When's the last time you were the recipient of an act of kindness? When was the last time you performed an act of kindness?

I often feel like a salmon swimming upstream against the current trying to be kind and polite myself AND be an example, rather than preaching all the time, to my kids. But it ain't easy. Am I a dinosaur? Is civility gone forever?

Here's the memorable ending of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE from which I stole the line for my post title. This is the most current version with Jessica Lange as Blanche Dubois, Diane Lane as her sister, Alec Baldwin as Stanley and John Goodman as Mitch. That Tennessee Williams could sure turn a phrase.