Full of Shinola

My Mom was good for her odd sayings... for someone whose outfit didn't match, she'd say they looked like a 'Russian Christmas on a Wednesday night'... To differentiate time, if something was fast it was 'quicker than shit through a sick goose'.  And if someone didn't know what they were talking about, she'd say they 'didn't know shit from Shinola'.  Shinola, apparently, was a brand of wax shoe polish available in the early to mid-20th century.  It was a dark, sticky, semisolid substance with a faint resemblance to human feces.  Implied, is that shit and Shinola, while superficially similar, are quite different in value when applied to shoes or carelessly stepped in. 

At the risk of sounding like some moral-high-road Conservative, it still shocks me when I see people's behavior these days.  I've written about it over and over again because I just can't wrap my head around how people's moral fabric has deteriorated.  I'm no angel, I'll give you that, but we were always taught to respect each other, but respect yourself as well, if not more.  It's disturbing to see how people act, especially regarding sexual encounters and their bodies.  I'm not sure when things changed, or maybe they never did, but it seems like no one has any respect or dignity or self-worth these days.  The infidelity and lying comes so naturally that it's just accepted as commonplace.  There's no respect, remorse, regret, responsibility or apology and certainly no self-control.  For guys, especially gay, the idea of monogamy has long-since been debunked with the explanation being simply that "it's not natural... we are guys... it's what guys do".  And while I am constantly debating monogamy in my own head as to which way works (because I really haven't seen too many examples of it working in a relationship with or without), I'm not ready to give up, and surely not in the beginning of a relationship 10 minutes into it because someone else whips their wiener out.  And when you throw in diseases brought back to the other or collateral damage, like innocent kids that may be affected, the respect, remorse, regret and responsibility are completely gone from the equation.

I am proud to say that I have never cheated on anyone.  I'm not judging anyone... it's just not for me.  I know that it has been going on forever in time but I, personally, feel that the internet had a great deal to do with the demise of the 'relationship'.  24/7 access to a hook up through the apps makes it impossible to find anyone that is serious about a relationship and even if they say they are, usually they are full of shit regardless.  It's hard not to become jaded... you can see them a mile away... and no matter how much Shinola you apply... 'you can't polish a turd'... yet another one of my Mom's sayings.