The Loss of Courtesy

Sometime, somewhere, over the last few years, we, as a society, seem to have lost the concept of courtesy. When I was a kid, growing up in semi- rural Ontario, courtesy, towards others, was just the accepted norm. Even people for whom you held little, if any, regard were, nonetheless, treated with common courtesy,if you needed to interact with them,either privately, or in public. I miss that simple concept, which has, definitely, fallen into disuse. Certainly, if all gloves are off and the situation is ugly, courtesy may not be an option, but in simple day to day dealings, it should not be such a foreign concept. Take for example, answering communications. People who take the time to correspond with you, for whatever reason,deserve to receive a timely response and that does not mean, six weeks from now. Even if all you say, is that you are not interested in their proposal, attentions, or opportunity,common courtesy dictates that you reply, Now, if that reply is ignored, then you can become more forceful in your response, even to the point of never responding again. Having said that, I will admit, that the rules of courtesy, may be deemed irrelevant, when dealing with telemarketers and related, phone based, interruptions to life, but not when dealing with electronic or otherwise written communications. A lack of courtesy is a sign of ignorance and no one, really, deserves to be treated with ignorance. We are all just people, trying to get along,in our lives and we all deserve a modicum of respect,for the effort.

I can well remember, my mother, trying to instil this idea into my adolescent consciousness and my reluctance to see the necessity of being nice to people I disliked or did not want to know. Nevertheless, I learned to politely thank people for unwanted invitations and when, a suitable and honest reason for not going, was not readily forthcoming,accepting said invitation. More than once, I actually found myself having a good time and occasionally, friendships developed that never would have, otherwise, occurred. Likewise, I returned unwanted phone calls, thanked aunts and uncles for totally hideous gifts and generally respected my elders, respectable or not. It was not a wasted lesson and has not been wasted upon me to this day. Oh I am occasionally lax in my responsibility to be courteous, but I make a diligent effort to practice what mother, so relentlessly, preached. I can not say that it has ever done me one ounce of harm.