My mother, Martha Wills, would have been 98 yesterday and even though she moved on 26 years ago, I still remember her so clearly saying on the day my first child was born, “Good manners are the best gift you can give your child. They don’t cost you anything; it just as easy to say please or thank you or look a person in the eye as not too, but you get so much mileage from that.”
And though I hate to admit, that advice came over 40 years ago, it could not be more true today than it was then.
Manners – a way in which a thing is done, a person’s outward bearing or way of behaving towards others.
Whether it’s a firm handshake or looking someone in the eye, whether it’s a handwritten thank you note or a please or a thank you or an “I’m so grateful” or an apology, wouldn’t you like to be on the receiving end? So is it really that hard to be on the giving end?
Respondez, s’il vous plait. Please respond. Yes, I know this is about responding to or regretting a social invitation but why not think about it in terms of how you choose to live your life, how you choose to interact, or not, with others.
If someone pushes your button, take a couple deep calming breaths and say silently to yourself:
Breathing in, I choose to Respond. Breathing out, Not React.
More on Regrets Only next time but for now consider the Golden Rule from the Brahman/Hindu translation,
This is the sum of duty: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you. Mahabharata 5:1517.
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