by Wayne Leon Learmond

Created on: April 06, 2011   Last Updated: April 07, 2011

Good manners are a rarity in this day and age. In fact many people are stunned when good manners are shown to them. There are even people who look at someone with suspicion and wariness, that comes with living in an ‘insular’ society. Because everyone looks out for themselves now, people are very suspicious of the motives behind someone who may display good manners.

But this is the trouble with society today. That even when someone displays good manners, they are still looked upon as if they have an ulterior motive. This is the barrier that we all have to break, the barrier of ‘suspicion’.  Years ago, good manners was commonplace throughout society. People never gave it a second thought as they helped their neighbour - or indeed a stranger - who may have needed help. There was no look of suspicion or wariness, only an attitude of wanting to help.

These days people walk all over each other without a second glance. Hardly anyone communicates the way we used too [using text instead]. We walk through doors without keeping them open for the next person behind us. And even if we do happen to keep a door open for someone, many people walk straight through without even a ‘thank you’.

Bad manners is commonplace throughout society now, as a person can live within their area for years without even knowing their neighbours names. People are left alone to ‘get on with it’ and it’s damned be them’ - which is the attitude which is prevalent. Parents are spoken back to by their children, in a way that would never have happened years ago. And authority as a whole is not as frightening to people and teenagers in general, as it used to be. All fear of the ‘law’ has gone - due to soft sentences given for serious crimes.

To make sure someone is alright - a wife, girlfriend, a stranger, such as an ‘elder’ - is beyond the scope of most people in society today. And the result is tragic as many people, wither away and die through neglect and loneliness. There have been too many cases in which older people, especially, have not been able to get out to the stores, because of bad weather, or ill health.

It seems that it is too much trouble today, to even stop by and check to make sure their older neighbours are alright. This is what is meant by ‘good manners’ but society has changed to such an extent, that even saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ has become a foreign language

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