Diamond Epistles

Sunday, April 2, 2006

Mind Your Manners

Pro 25:11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.

Good manners. Are they a lost art today?
When I see a child today who uses please and thank you frequently, that child will really stand out to me as special. My daughter has a friend, who has stood out to me as a very special kid just because he is extremely polite. It is highly unusual in a boy of 11 or 12. He even walked up to me in the hallway at school and SHOOK MY HAND! And asked me how I was. It shocked me, and it made him stand out far above the other boys. And I liked him for that.

Out of all the boys in the whole school, he is the only one who treats my daughter with respect and what used to be called "common courtesy", only it's not so common anymore. Rudeness is much more the norm. It's even considered cool to be rude, nowadays. I've seen some members of a family try to outdo each other with their rudeness, and think it's hilarious. That's really a shame.

We live in a dog eat dog world. Everybody pushes, shoves, honks, shoots the finger, yells, has a fit, cusses, cuts in front of..... to get ahead or to get their own way.

I find that incredibly sad, and is a serious symptom of something lacking in our society. And it all goes back to the parents. A couple weeks ago I saw a mother walking hurriedly through the store, holding her small child's hand, nearly collided with another lady, swore at her and told her to watch where she was (insert cuss word) going. Another woman walking by couldn't contain herself, and she said sarcastically "well that's just a good lesson to teach your child"

I couldn't have agreed more. And then the mother hollered back, "Shuuut uuuup"

Another fine lesson to teach your child.

Good manners are taught by example, and by consistant training. When I see a child say to their mother, "I want some_____________." (Period. End of sentence. No, please. Just demanding)..... , it shocks me a little. It shocks me even more when I see their parent thoughtlessly give in to the demands without requesting a 'please' or even noticing that their child was rude, and then not expecting a 'thank you!'..... Rudeness is so common place nowadays that we as parents often let it slip by without even noticing! When a child is asked, "would you like some___________?" and they say, "Ok", "sure", "yeah" or worse, turn up their nose and say "I don't like that" it makes my eyebrows raise. What happened to "yes, please" or "no thank you" ?

Ignoring when someone speaks to you is extremely rude, and disrespectful. It sends a message that you do not want to hear what that someone has to say.
When I call my kids and they holler back "What?" I find that disrespectful..... That has been the toughest one to break and we're still working on it. Probably because I catch myself still saying "What?!?" when they call me.... LOL. I would like them to answer, "Yes Ma'am" or at least, "Yes Mom"

Simple basic manners. Let's start a revival of them.

"Please. Thank You. Excuse me. Yes Ma'am. No Sir. Pardon me?"

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