What do you mean you don't know how to do that?

I recently have had a chain of experiences that have prompted me to wonder about the practicality of self-reliance and responsibility. This sounds rash, but I'm partially serious. Or maybe a better thought would be, what are we doing to teach our children and ourselves self-reliance and responsibility for our actions and the resulting effects our actions have?

For instance, on multiple occasions I've gone out with men who needed detailed step-by-step directions to places where I'm meeting them. Getting to houses has a reprieve, residential areas are just made to confuse people. Public places, however.... Whatever happened to being able to give adequate information, such as a mutual point of reference and then other tidbits that people unfamiliar with the area wouldn't otherwise know (tips for traffic, street names/traffic lights to look for), and being able to let them loose with an address and a phone number of the place to let them find it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against holding the hand of a lost and wandering soul if I don't know them well enough to have greater expectations, but by the time you get to be at least a sophomore in college, you shouldn't require hand holding. Be BOLD! Be BRAVE! Explore!

And this is just the tip of the iceberg on the topic. Maybe I'm just insensitive, or perhaps I'm getting to that age where things that didn't use to bother me now do so..... hm.