All it took was one question to put it in perspective for Kanye West.</p><p>&ldquo;What would your mom have said about this?&rdquo; Jay Leno asked the superstar on Monday night. &ldquo;This,&rdquo; of course, was Kanye&rsquo;s notorious outburst during Taylor Swift&rsquo;s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards.</p><p>Kanye, who always has something to say, sat frozen, quiet and lost at the mention of his mother, Donda West, who died in 2007. He rubbed his head, his usual arrogance gone as he stumbled through an answer. </p><p>It&rsquo;s clear from his instant sadness that his mother would have been disappointed. And none of us wants to disappoint the person who helped raise us &mdash; whether it&rsquo;s a parent, grandparent, auntie, mentor or teacher.</p><p>The basic lesson most of our mothers taught us was to respect one another. As my mama would say, &ldquo;Act like you&rsquo;ve got some sense.&rdquo; </p><p>But for one reason or another, it seems that golden rule continues to be broken. </p><p>Whether it&rsquo;s Joe Wilson&rsquo;s &ldquo;you-lie&rdquo; outburst during President Barack Obama&rsquo;s address to a joint session of Congress or LeBron James&rsquo; refusal to shake the hands of the Orlando Magic when his team lost earlier this year, there is a clear lack of good conduct in America. </p><p>Sure, apologies have been made and fines have been issued in some cases. Yes, Beyonc&eacute; graciously shared her moment at the MTV VMA&rsquo;s with Taylor Swift to make up for Kanye&rsquo;s crude behavior.</p><p>What about everyone else&rsquo;s behavior? Recent polls have indicated that people are quick to shame someone&rsquo;s bad manners but not so quick to forgive. Yet, none of us is perfect.</p><p>Kanye&rsquo;s behavior was undeniably disgraceful but not unforgivable. I&rsquo;ve seen tweets about lynching him, blogs about burning his discs. At some point, outrage goes too far.</p><p>The ugly truth is, on some level most of us are capable of having a Kanye moment. There is more insolence in society than we are willing to recognize. It goes well beyond temper tantrums on tennis courts, in Congress and pop culture. It&rsquo;s sewn into our everyday behavior.</p><p> Think about every time you talk on your cell phone while checking out at the grocery store, treating the clerk like a no one, or the moments you text at dinner, disregarding your loved ones. What about the catty comments, the malicious tweets and the popularity of sensationalism? </p><p>I know the next time I find myself engaging in uncivil behavior, I&rsquo;ll stop and think about the million-dollar question. What would my mom say?