Do Good Manners Matter?
Manners For the Hoi Polloi
Teaching good manners matters, especially today. Ours may not be the worst of times – but it sure seems a ruder time than I can remember. It’s either trickling down, or bubbling up; but our bad manners –discourtesy that ignores accepted social usage — alienate acquaintances and harm friendships.
Who are you, asked the aging hippie of herself? You who thought, “Up your nose with a rubber hose,” and Love means never having to say you’re sorry, were sensible words in a conversation!
But becoming a seasoned citizen . . . well, I see how practicing good manners isn’t an antediluvian art.
A Baltimore girl “taught us the true meaning” of good manners:
Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others.If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter which fork you use. ~Emily Post
Yeah Hon!
So, teaching good manners remains a timely topic, especially in the home. And the lessons are not just about table ettiquette, thank you notes and RSVP-ing promptly.
The bottom line, supporting, essential, irreplaceable attribute of good manners is “A sensitive awareness of the feelings of others . . .”
The test of good manners is to be patient with bad ones. ~ Solomon be Yehuda ibn Gabirol), The Choice of Pearls
Maybe I can work on making myself a better example?
- I can surely overlook a transgression. Or,
- I can ask, What’s up? Or,
- I really can quit expecting thanks. (Luke 17:10) Or,
- I can review my own ingratitude for so many kindnesses I’ve received and never acknowledged.
Whew.
Just remembering the past twenty-four hours and the kindnesses that protected me and blessed me, puts me in my place.
“We call bad one who rejects the fruit he is given for the fruit he is expecting or the fruit he was given last time.” ― C.S. Lewis, Perelandra