Monday, August 30th, 2004
What happened to courtesy? Is it dead? Was it ever really alive?
By “courtesy” I mean treating the everyday people you come in contact with- the gas station attendant, the guy next to you on the bus, the woman in traffic ahead of you- with respect and politeness. I try to do this; I may not know you from Adam’s housecat, but if I pass you on the street I’m going to give you a little nod and if you stop me to ask directions, I’ll be as pleasant as possible. Where is it now? Why, when I stop someone to ask directions I get “How the hell should I know, buddy?” and when I pass someone on the street I get a snarl if anything at all? Surely it’s not my deoderant. Is it that people spend too much time wrapped up in their own concerns; to the point that their entire outlook is centered on what’s good for them and what they need? Anything else- like my need for directions- is secondary and impeding their achieving their own goals. And here I thought courtesy- and the larger derivative issue of being concerned with other things than your own skin- was part of what made society work. Someone wiser than I put it simply: Love is given, respect is earned, and courtesy is owed. One would think that the more crowded an area is, the more important courtesy would be; rudeness in a city where you’re literally rubbing shoulders with your fellow inhabitants would seem to be counter-productive. However, the opposite seems to be true: people in rural areas seem to be more polite than those in crowded cities.
Maybe this is why I’m anti-social at heart.