Why Etiquette Should Make A Comeback

Today was one of those days so many of us have.  In the course of what turned out to be a long day I and my family were honked at, shouted at, flipped off, almost run down at a cross-walk (that is the second time this week) and had a door we were trying to get through shut in our face. In and amongst it all, I just couldn’t stop thinking that it would have been better if more etiquette would have been displayed by my fellow citizens.

Really - whatever happened to etiquette?  As we are desperately trying to teach our toddler to always say “please” and “thank you” as well as “hello” to passerbys, it seems somehow we are being counter-cultural.  I understand that people are busy, and they are stressed, but a little etiquette makes life a bit better for all of us.

A little anecdote helps demonstrate this. The other week I was in the grocery store and with dread saw that it was the “wrong time” to be shopping and checking out.  Lines of customers were aggravatingly awaiting for their groceries to be scanned, all the while watching their frozen goods begin to thaw from their deep-freeze. You could see the faces of people turning a shade pinker.  I too joined a ridiculously long line with an over-filled basket and a toddler awaiting his own little melt-down.  Then I heard the magic words: “Line 8 is now open, please come across.”

Being in Line 7 I had a clear shot, but by the time I steered my finely balanced shopping over, a near stampede occurred, and I was convinced I would be relegated to the back of what was now a longer line. And then I heard something that sounded like a foreign tongue in this sea of “me, me, me, mine, mine, mine.” It was a woman at the front of Line 7, who positioned her cart to block those behind her, telling me “Please, go before me, you have a young child after all.”  Not that I think that a “young child” should always be a “get out of jail free card” but in this case, I was relieved. She proceeded to tell me “I used to be the sort of person that would have pushed you over to get in front, but I am not that way anymore and I am glad for it. That was ugly and obviously I was a worse person for it.” I have no idea what altered her behavior, but I was thankful for it (especially as I was a bit unsettled by the idea of her ‘pushing me over’).

And that is the crux of it, isn’t?  Even if it is warranted to snap at people, flip them off, or mow them down, are we really any better off for it? Obviously, I don’t think so. So we intend to “mind our p’s & q’s” and continue to raise our family the good old fashioned way - with manners, and yes, a bit of etiquette. Because it goes a long way.