When exactly did manners become a thing of the past for the most part? Was it the rise of the smart phones, a generation not as strictly raised in the art of social graces, or is it the inevitable outcome of our modern society, perhaps more concerned with ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ online than experiencing the real outside world.
Perhaps it is as simple as a matter of time. Although I am not ‘old’ yet by any stretch of the imagination, I do find it possible to consider the fact I may be paying more attention to the manners and friendliness around me a lot more than when I was in my twenties and thirties.
I mean, everyone has an off day, a day when they might much rather be boiled in oil than deal with people, at least on a temporary basis. Additionally, many life events all of us will go through or observe in one manner or another, like the passing of someone close to them, illness both physical and mental and of course the build up of daily annoyances, like traffic jams, long lines, and those annoying telemarketing phone calls:
“Hello, how are you today? I am trying to sell you something.”
The latter example uses manners and kindness, but only for the purpose of making a sale, which makes it a very dubious use of manners indeed.
Thing is, more importantly than where most of our manners went, but also how do we get them back? I suppose it will not be as simple as checking behind the sofa or under the bed, but will take people considering the other people around them more frequently and exercising restraint not to take out the problems in their own head out on the world.
Easier said then done, when I see groups of people sitting around a table out in public, all staring at their phones as if they have control over them somehow, like some cheap horror film from decades past.
Not impossible though, it would just take everyone being a little kinder to others as well as themselves and also being able to not let all the pressures of daily modern life make them forget that everyone is Human, no one is perfect and most people deserve our respect and kindness.
