The Death of Common Courtesy
In the past couple of years, I’ve been making more of an effort to do the sorts of things that were beat into my head as a kid by my parents and grandparents–mostly the little polite things like saying ‘please,’ ‘thank you,’ and ‘excuse me.’ In the time, much as is the case with me, I’ve noticed that many people don’t feel the need to do the same. Strangely enough, an article at thebostonchannel.com was published during my more recent thoughts on this manner.
I was raised that you say please when you want something, you say thank you when you get it, you say your welcome when someone thank you, you graciously accept apologies, and that you say excuse me when the situation warrants it. At various times over the years, I’ve gotten to points where I’ve forgotten to do so or just plain opted not to do so, but in recent years I’ve tried to correct that to get back to what I was taught. There times, though, when I wonder why I bother given the state in which I see most people existing with these sorts of things.
Yesterday, I went to the State Fair here in North Carolina with my fiancee, two friends, and their daughter. The couple has done a good job of teaching their daughter to say the correct things and to be polite. It was a good juxtaposition to what I saw from many of the other fair-goers. You would have people push through lines without so much as an excuse me–and if you’d call them on it (especially if they rammed you), you would get a dirty look back. And the words please and thank you were very little in evidence. Some of the worst offenders were parents with strollers. It got to the point that I did not move when someone tried to push through with a stroller unless they said excuse me. Possibly a bit hypocritical, but personal stands sometimes have little bits of that in them.
In the end, I suppose it’s a matter of everyone likes to feel appreciated and to know that other people acknowledge their existence. In the midst of the ‘I want it now’ generation, far too many people don’t bother worrying about other people. With the focus being very much on instant gratification, everyone seems to be too worried about rushing to the next thing and ignoring the need to stop and acknowledge those who are around them.
The world would be much nicer place if people would remember such things. Stop and take a moment to say ‘please’ when you ask for something–it many cases, it’s not your place to demand it. Say ‘thank you’ when you get it, because in many cases, the person in question was not under obligation to give it to you. And by all means, please say ‘excuse me’ when you inconvenience someone else in some way. People really need to drop the sense of personal entitlement and realize that the rest of the world isn’t here to serve them.