Note to the Future

My third grade teacher, Mrs. Branch (real name, why not?) pointed out to us children that one of the ways people abused one another was by requiring one another to be at a certain place at a certain time. I think she even pointed out the 15 minute tolerance. At some time between then and now, the rules were relaxed. Doctors no longer charge patients for missed appointments, for example, presumably because everyone's in such a tizzy that the old expectations are really too much to ask.

I don't mean to suggest that Mrs. Branch's observation would no longer apply, only that society has relented somewhat, in consideration of today's jam-packed schedules. The change seemed to start about 25 years ago, by my reckoning.