Just Sayin': Broadway manners on the wane

What has happened to courtesy? The other night, I was in the city. My husband had bought tickets to a Broadway musical as a Mother's Day-birthday gift. We looked forward to this because we had not been to show in a very long time.

Of course, everyone knows the seats are narrow and the leg room minimal, but the lack of courtesy on the part of many in the audience was appalling.

A little girl behind me spent the entire time kicking the back of my seat. I turned a few times to glare at the parents, not wanting to speak and disrupt others, but they did nothing. I spoke to them during the intermission, but it made no difference. They didn't even remove her shoes.

Others used flashes on their cellphones to take photos during the show, which was prohibited. I guess they felt they were special and rules didn't apply to them. The woman next to me kept turning her phone on to text during the performance. I asked her to turn it off, but it made no difference. The family in front of us kept leaning forward and sitting on the front edge of their seats so that we couldn't see past them from our seats in the mezzanine.

These are simple things, easy things not to do, so that everyone can enjoy the show.

Barbara Obstgarten, Port Jefferson Station

Honor workers this month

May is Labor History Month. Who knew?

Let's honor the working class that built and defined this country. Its members are the pride and glory of our nation, or at least they should be, because they shaped and defined it.

I'm no fan of President Barack Obama, but he was absolutely right when he used the phrase, "You didn't build that," to make the point that every person's success is made possible by others in some form.

He didn't mean that individuals' achievements aren't their own, just that we are all links in a chain. We each play a part, whether prominent or invisible, direct or indirect, large or smaller. Ultimately a project's fruition is the sum of many people's donation of ideas, investment and labor. A sandhog should be no less exalted than the engineer who calculates where to blast the rocks.

To me, Independence Day is the holiday closest to Labor History Month in spirit and meaning. Both represent revolutionary departures from the stale and oppressive systems of the "old country." Both stand for separation from the entrenched and intractable traditions of economic immobility, social stagnation and political paralysis dictated by one's "station" at birth.

During this month and throughout the year, let's praise the workers who have blessed this land with a standard of living and quality of life that used to be the envy of the world, before the enticement of globalism entranced the Republicans and Democrats alike through one-way mirrors.

Ron Isaac, Fresh Meadows

Pedestrians must watch out

Since when have we forgotten to stop, look and listen when we cross the street? It seems like almost every day I hear of someone being hit by a car while crossing or walking on the road.

I agree that sometimes it's the fault of the driver, but it's also the responsibility of the pedestrian to pay attention to the surroundings.

Let's not forget what we all learned in elementary school: Stop, look and listen before crossing the street.

Kenneth Hartmann, Port Jefferson