Graphic from here

I have noticed over the past year that my children, well the oldest (10 and 8) are now showing a sense of confindence when they talk back.  At first I chalked it up to a “phase” that my son (10) and daughter (8) were going through.  BH, our little one (4) hasn’t quite picked up on this mode of behavior.  However, a phase is usually short lived, this isn’t.  Don’t me wrong, my kids are good, loving, sensitive kids.  They just figured out that they can talk back and exercise their free choice to do so, while at times being less than respectful to others.
I was that way back in my youth.  Of course, this didn’t happen until I was about 14 or 15.

It’s not just what they say, it’s how they say it.  Often times, we will tell them thing like, “How can you say that in a nice way” or “How would you respond if someone spoke to you the way you are talking now?”

I think I will just have to accept their acts of chutzpah as par for the course.  Of course, their words do not go unnoticed nor do do they “get away” with how they speak to others.  There is a cause and effect and they are learning to understand that.  However, I am left wondering, if being chutzpadik might be derech ha’tevah?  Sort like gravity, built into the way of the world.

This line of thinking is based on what I recently was reminded of while reading In All Your Ways by R Yaakov Meir Shechter.  He quotes the gemara at the end of Sotah (49b), that says:
“In the footsteps of Moshiach, chutzpah (insolence) will increase and kavod (honor) will decrease.”

If I am to believe that Moshiach can come today (or any day), then why not simply accept chutzpah for what it is, a sign that the Geulah is coming.