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Jan. 16, 2009
Uncommon Courtesy
| I recently went to a homeschooling event in which the speaker said that Canadians were rude. She said that we talk when the speaker is talking, don't give the speaker our full attention and we don't make eye contact with the speaker. It is not uncommon for young people to be rude by not addressing adults by their titles, but when I went home for Christmas my nephew has taken to the habit of calling his dad by his first name. The excuse was that he worked with his dad, but it didn't sit right with me. I thought that outside of the work setting, he should address his dad as dad.
I was taught in school that respect was earned. We were told by our teachers that we should question everything our parents told us to do and that if they did not present us with a rational, reasonable reason to do something, we shouldn't. I now think that extending the courtesy, as in titles to someone, says more about ourselves and a whole lot less about the earned state of respect for someone. It isn't so much that respect has been earned, but rather that courtesy was extended whether the respect was earned or not. If the person has earned our respect then we are doubly-blessed.
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