Ok, so we have a few changes being made to the website… Cleaner, fresher and more locally based has been the move for us here… So I am getting used to the new formatting and so on, excuse me if things go awry over the next few days while I get used to it all… On to todays blog…
If I mention bad manners, I am not referring to the 1980s pop group led by the bald, larger than life frontman Buster Bloodvessel doing the Scar music version of the CanCan… I am talking about that behaviour trait that seems to escape some people… Most of whom should know better. Let me explain what I mean here today…
This blog post today is certainly not attempting to be a slice of the UK TV show “Grumpy Old Men” – I am not old enough and am far too optimistic ;-)… Just the odd occasion though, I have to ask the question… Do you find yourself getting a bit fed up with people some times?
Especially if they demonstrate some bad manners, perhaps something you consider to be selfish or even thoughtless? I am sure you do.
Maybe you can’t stand their road rage, queue hopping, virtually shouting on their mobile phones on trains and busses, or refusing to smile and never saying please and thank you. Is it just because some people were raised to use please and thank you that they expect the same from time to time, do you think? Or just because they use them so readily on a day-to-day basis?
Ok, I am going to sound a little older than my actual years here… What about the groups of youths who have never considered walking in any other way than in a swathe covering the pavement who scuff past you or force you to detour around them?
While sitting at Lords last Sunday watching the Cricket, despite the entire ground being non-smoking, someone was smoking a couple of rows in front of us, blowing the smoke upwards so it wafted right into us!
The cold sales callers that harass you, people who discard litter out of their car windows, and people who let their dogs foul the pavement and then leave it there!
There are a few things that can irritate us mere mortals from time to time and these things can leave a lasting impression upon someone else other than you… Many people do not care I guess… I tend to think that good manners though, have a deeply hypnpotic and influential effect upon those that you come into contact with and do go a very long way….
One of Satre’s characters once said “Hell is other people.” Must have been referring to those with bad manners… Because I think that heaven is other people when good manners, consideration and kindness are concerned.
When someone is polite, kind and goes out of their way to enhance the life of another, wow – that is heaven in my book. I think maintaining good manners, even in the heart of disagreement may be seen by many as an outmoded and typically old-school English way to be… But give me that any day!
When I was at school, the players had to call the rugby referee ‘sir.’ I love it when people kindly thank their taxi drivers, hold doors open for others with a smile, pick up dropped things and people who have fallen, those who return lost wallets, assist lost strangers to find their way, apologise if they mistakenly tread on your toes, drive with some care and civility… and of course say please and thank you.
Good manners influence and hypnotically affect and I wonder if you consider your manners or not? Thank you for reading, please come back again… 😉
