Do you have any sense?

The more time I've spent in admissions, the more reluctant I have become to automatically complain about the younger generation, "those damned Millenials.".  When I was 19, thirty-one year old's probably complained about me, and I understand that.  However..

I am not fierce patriot.  I wouldn't have the patience to properly fold a flag, and I feel silly when circumstances find me having to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in a high school.   However, none of this means that don't appreciate the soldiers who have fought in wars for the United States of America, whether I agreed with those wars or not, or frankly, was even alive at the time.   In front of my building is the University's Veterans' Memorial: it's not much in the grand scheme, just some brass plaques on a brick wall, plaques commemorating the names of the university alumni who have perished in America's Wars.  90% of the time I pass by them without a thought, but there are occasions when I will stop and examine these plaques.  Where were these students from? How did they find themselves in Flanders, Korea, or Vietnam?  How did they perish?  Heavy thoughts.   

Across the walkway from these plaques is a bronze sculpture of a father holding his son's purple heart.  The sculpture was dedicated on Veterans Day 2011 to quite a bit of fanfare.  Ask most visitors about the sculpture, however, and they'll likely tell you that A) it looks like the guy is standing there texting, or B) they thought it was a real man and it creeped them out.  Very few of them will stop to examine it or ponder what it represents.  None of this is surprising.  

Fast forward to this afternoon: I was standing near the front door of my building, eating the delicious cinnamon ice cream a coworker brought me for my birthday, and gazing idly out of the front windows.  A female student - a student ambassador I come to learn - comes whizzing through our parking lot on a bike and I follow her progress with my eyes.  She flies up to our building, dismounts, and without a second thought leans her bike up against the Veterans' sculpture.   

I'm usually not a confrontational person; in fact,  I think I could benefit from being more so.    But to paraphrase the Dude, in some cases "This aggression will not stand, man."  How did this ever seem "appropriate?"  How did this ever seem like something one should do?  

 I immediately accost this student as she walks in and ask her to move her bike.  
M: Could you please move your bike so it's not leaning on the sculpture?
S: Ugggggggh.   All I need to do is find out if I have a tour.
M:  I'm not usually confrontational, but it's a memorial, not a bike stand.  
S:  Uggggghh  (walks out).
M: THANK YOU!  (literally yelled as she exits in a huff)

So this is a student, a student hand chosen to represent this university to prospective students, 1. thinks it's ok to lean her bike against our Veterans Memorial, and 2. feels put upon when someone asks her to move it.   

Kids these days.