Kindness...Gone and Forgotten

I'm fairly young and I can still remember the cattiness and unkind things that happened in high school. I just assumed that at some point girls out grow being unkind to each other. Apparently, that isn't the case. I do water aerobics several times a week and I'm the youngest water baby there. Somewhere amid the menopause and various female surgeries I've heard about, I've come to really admire and respect and generally like these women. Well, long story really short, the lady that teaches my class was asksed to teach other class. This class was extremely rude and unfriendly to her. They talked about her and her routine. They also made several catty comments in the locker room and when she let them know that she was in hearing distance of them, they didn't even act sorry at having been caught. Unfortunately, I've found myself being caught and I always had the grace to blush and be sorry that I was overheard. But these women apparently didn't. And the thing that really got me thinking was that these women are in their 60s. So when exactly do we stop being so unkind to people? I don't make it a habit to hit a meanness quota everyday, but sometimes it slips out. It just seems that somewhere along the way, my generation and apparently other generations have forgotten that kindness makes the world go round. What a shame.