It seems that everywhere I look lately I see some form of verbal aggression taking place in our public discourse, or worse, in the form of physical altercations among our fellow citizens, neighbors and friends.

Physical displays of frustration and anger seem to be a new accepted norm in or modern 21st century culture. We see it on reality television shows like Bravo’s Real Housewives or VH-1’s Basketball Wives, and let’s not forget Jersey Shore. Our teenage girls arrange to have violent fight in school and post the videos on Facebook, and our politicians and leaders are often foul-mouthed, menacing and uncivil in their discourse towards one another.

Welcome to the wild wild west of “say what you need to say”, and if that doesn’t work just hit somebody and set them straight. Yes, America has become a place where being angry and slapping the s**t out of someone is well, acceptable. Yet, how acceptable is it for parents to climb aboard a school bus and slap someone else’s child who they feel has violated their own son or daughter’s personal space? Is that where we should draw the line or is it okay for a 30-year-old mom to slap around someone else’s 9-year-old kid?

In my opinion, an adult should never physically assault another person’s child. Never. It is unconscionable and unacceptable under any circumstance. However, physical correction by a responsible adult in authority may be permissible and here is why: Discipline starts in the proverbial “village” when we are young. I am old enough to remember in the mid-1970s where my 1st grade teacher Mrs. Burgerhoff, would take us in the closet and give us a good whack on the bottom if we were disrespectful to our classmates or to her. And many of my friends who attended Catholic schools can tell you about getting a good whack on the knuckles from a nun. Worse, they called your parents and your mom or dad would come to school and whack you again for daring to disrespect your elders or a fellow classmate. We understood that we had to conduct ourselves like decent little human beings or we would pay a physical price — a good smack and tongue lashing to boot. It worked well, and we simply did not have the problems that we see in our schools and culture today.

The challenge we face now, however, is that too many kids are not being taught the proper respect and values at home, or how to conduct themselves in public. And sadly the parents are often aggressive and ill-tempered. It is the perfect storm for the incidents we have seen over the past year on school buses where parents (black parents — just sayin) have wandered on to the school bus and accosted other people’s kids for allegedly threatening one of their own offspring. Folks we gotta do better than this.

In the final analysis, we all agree that the village should raise the child. But, where do we draw the line? Who determines what is appropriate and what is over the line?

Here’s the thing: I still fear certain elders in my life, or maybe I should say revere them because I first respect them. The problem with the village now is that the kids no longer respect the adults, and the village leaders often act like the village idiots. If we want our young people to act right, then we need to act right. If want them to not beat on each other or cuss each other out than we have to set that example amongst ourselves as adults. Hitting a school kid because he hit your kid is just down right stupid, and even more, it’s assault and those who do it should be prosecuted and made an example of for all to see.