Make manners great again

If you ask those closest to me what my biggest pet peeve is, they will answer ‘rudeness.’ I feel rudeness is nearly 100% of the time unnecessary. It’s also simply poor manners, which brings me to the topic at hand today.

Manners.

Where have all the manners gone? In children, in adults. Nothing is more unbecoming than encountering an ill-mannered adult.

“The older a person grows, Harriet, the more important it is that their manners should not be bad; the more glaring and disgusting any loudness, or coarseness, or awkwardness becomes. What is passable in youth is detestable in later age.” Jane Austen, Emma.

This quote is quite true. We see a small child with poor manners and think, “They are merely a child. They will learn.” When you see an adult with poor manners, we think, “Did their parents not teach them any manners?”

Manners must be taught and instilled. They do not come naturally. For this reason, when we are raising children, we whisper correction when they fail to say please and thank you. We instruct them to look others in the eye. We teach them to not use their fingers to eat or worse lick their fingers rather than use a napkin.

Why do manners matter?

It is pure kindness.

It maintains civility.

It honors others above ourselves.

It gentles the harshness of the world.

It keeps us humans rather than animals.

It honors God, who is love.

It draws people to us rather than repelling them from us.

At the risk of sounding judgey, I share this story with you.