We are living in a culture that cares less and less about the general community.

I once attended a diversity training that talked about the serenity that you observe in an aquarium. The sereneness exists because, although there are multiple species present, there is a mutual understanding and respect of the shared space.

I will share a ridiculous but all too common incident a little later, but what this really comes down to is a basic sense of respect. Respect for oneself and respect for your fellow man.

Somewhere as a society we have lost that sensibility. This was definitely the case for a group of Amtrak passengers. We have all been there, either at a restaurant, movie theater, grocery store, restroom or elevator. Really, you can insert any publicly shared space.

Following my earlier analogy, there you are in the aquarium, swimming and minding your own business when some obnoxious, snaggletooth garfish is talking loud on a cell phone. No, they are not in a discreet alcove of the reef speaking softly; they are swimming and talking loud enough for the entire aquarium to hear. Where is a great white shark when you need one, you wonder?

This was the scene for the Amtrak passengers.

Lakeysha Beard, a 39-year-old woman, talked on her cell phone for more than half a day last Monday while on an Amtrak train commuting from Oakland, Calif., to Portland, Ore. The loud conversation lasted 16 hours.

Really! Who are you talking to for that long? There is no reason to be on the phone with anyone, unless maybe you are in labor, and even then don’t you have to stop and breathe at some point?

Observers said that a few passengers asked the woman to put the phone away a few times prior to notifying the train staff. That is absolutely ridiculous that other grown people have to tell another grown person that her behavior is disruptive and obnoxious.

Staff members were unable to convince the woman to end the conversation, so they stopped the train and authorities arrested the woman. What type of clueless, narcissistic Verizon phone banshee do you have to be to have an entire train of folks comment on your disruptive behavior?

I said earlier that this story was really about a steady decline of people showing each other simple courtesy and respect.

I have been asked during our in-service training to speak to faculty about their duty to hold students accountable. The awkwardness for some is, how do you approach an unruly garfish when you are a school-conscious tetra? The answer is that we all are responsible for the collective serenity of our community.

We have seen evidence of this recently here in Charlotte as a group of young African American youth were acting out and disrupting the shared public space.

I had a conversation with an esteemed colleague, Professor Cooper, and his observation is that we must get away from people with entitlement issues and “institutional blame,” i.e., it is the school’s problem, judicial system, society. We have to take accountability for our own actions and the actions of those who are part of our community.

My colleague and I discussed how it seems that we have a group of African American youth who are not only playing into the stereotype of young urban thugs but they are using that image to their advantage to challenge the larger community and authority. Why? Because they know that people fear them.

I constantly speak to students about appropriate behavior because, regardless of their racial or cultural background, there is a common expectation of professional behavior.

We as a community, especially as African-Americans, have the same expectation. We cannot be afraid of our own children. We cannot let our youth punk us into inaction. I have two twin nephews who are now both as big and possibly stronger than me, but I let them know that even if I have to get a running start and jump in their chest, then they will know that I was there.

If we do not begin to take action then we could soon find that our serene aquarium community has been overtaken by an unscrupulous school of pants-shagging piranha.

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Professor Locs, aka Charles Easley, is an educator who explores race, class, gender, sexuality, media and popular culture with humor and insight. Click here to read his blog.

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