I thought it was a new problem

I really enjoy Montaigne's Essays. And Montaigne really enjoyed Plutarch's Lives.

We were talking the other day about the manner in which folks tend to respond to cell phone calls, text messages, etc. on the spot, without much regard to what I would still consider to be good manners. This struck me as a very modern problem.

Then I read Montaigne (writing around 1580) describing something he read in Plutarch (maybe written around 100 AD). It sounded all too familiar:

"I was just now on that passage where Plutarch tells us on his own that Rusticus, while attending one of his lectures at Rome, received a packet from the Emperor, and delayed opening it until the lecture was all over, for which, says Plutarch, all the audience highly praised his composure. In truth, since Plutarch was on the subject of curiosity - and specifically that greedy and gluttonous passion for news that makes us so indiscreetly and impatiently abandon everything to talk with a newcomer, or tear open immediately the letters that are brought to us, no matter where we are and without regard to respect and decorum - he was right to praise the composure of Rusticus . . ."

Bumper sticker

Saw this bumper sticker in the parking lot at the gym yesterday, and liked it:

Wag more. Bark less.

This approach applies quite nicely to we humans of course; though one adept practitioner of this philosophy is shown in photo below.