As a young child I was taught the important concept that “manners maketh the man” and consequently my parents taught me important words when I was little like, please and thank you, sorry, excuse me and I beg your pardon. I was taught to respect my elders, to hold doors open for people, to not walk across another persons path, not to interrupt and to always take my turn and not push in. As a grumpy old man today, I still try to live by those standards instilled in me in my formative years, and I have become increasingly aware of how bad mannered people are today. I get frustrated when people walk straight across in front of me causing me to stop, if I do this to somebody else accidentally, then I apologize immediately, a courtesy seldom extended to me in return.
Looking on line at the background to the saying “manners maketh the man” more than one website suggests that the saying means that our character is created by our mannerisms, which in my mind is something completely different. It saddens me that I feel to be surrounded some very rude people, who seem to care only about themselves and not about others, and particularly during this season of Covid 19, I am saddened and appalled by people who deliberately break the rules, risking the lives of others.
Where have good manners gone? I read recently that children don’t say please and thank you any more and some have attributed this to smart speakers like Alexa and Siri. People now bark orders at their Digital pal “Alexa turn the lights on!” and if Alexa doesn’t respond immediately, the command is repeated louder and in a more measured way, there is no need to say please or thank you, we are in control. The experts claim that children are picking up this trait and that the time will come when common courtesies are gone for good.
As a Christian minister, I guess that you would expect me to quote something from the Bible, Jesus tells his disciples that the greatest commandment is to love God, the second to love one another. In John chapter 13 he gives them a new Commandment “As I have loved you, so you must love one another” my interpretation of that is to treat others with the highest regard and courtesy.