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The good ol’ gracious ways

AFP

Well Mannered Good manners make a lasting impression

Good Manners, like family heirlooms, are bequeathed from parents to children as also from elders to youngsters. It may sound strange but in a largely brusque world, manners are really something else. While some may frown upon an open discussion, goo d manners ultimately are about your sensitivity as a person and your level of consideration towards fellow beings. It is not dictated upon you but basically makes you an easier, kinder person to be with and always leaves an imprint on young people.

Your manners can make or break relationships.

Just as we are asked not to limit our civic sense to just within our homes so too it is with manners. Make good manners a part of your interaction with society.

Just as a smile cheers you instantly, manners are often chain reactions. No matter how preoccupied you are with the stressful business of day-to-day living, being courteous does lighten up things and make you pleasant company to be with.

You may not wish to talk to strangers. Yet when they are polite, you are filled with a sense of well-being, and vice-versa.

Imagine - You’re getting out of the lift. Before you could, five people barge in and you end up on an upper storey before you know it.

Inside the passport office, the staff calls out the token numbers. X shoves you out of the office. He’s on his way to the counter although his number is yet to be called out.

In the departure lounge in the airport, when they request you to board the flight, people rush to the door as if they will miss the flight although each ticket carries a seat number.

M. talks into his cell phone so loudly that he may not need the device after all, at that pitch.

While overdoing politeness can lead to hilarious extremes of behaviour, let us be above crassness of all sorts and resort to that which never did go out of fashion- Good manners.

In today’s world of cut-throat competition and “I-first!” attitude, teaching manners and values are a must . Parents lay the foundation and teachers build on it.

Let’s not forget the two magic words – “Please” and “thank you”. They do speak volumes!!

While standing in a queue, why not make way for an elder?

Why not offer your seat to a mother and child while in a bus?

Making fun of others, laughing at other’s expense are generally no-nos. Acknowledge acquaintances or seniors with a smile and a greeting.

In interactions, never push or needle the other person with questions of a personal nature. Example: Age, weight, salary etc.

Also avoid talking when you’re fuming. Think twice before shouting at others who are not obliged to suffer. Being polite does not take away from your manliness (or womanliness).

A smile and a polite “How are you” to your neighbours in the lift would not be out of place. Never make personal remarks over things that the hearer cannot change.

Be kind to those obliged to work for you. I mean the security man as he opens the door yet another time, say “Thank you”.

Never be a prisoner of prejudice. Treating all with respect and consideration should come naturally in a land where we go by the dictum “athithi devo bhava.” Learn to be tolerant of differences.

As a matter of courtesy, return calls, mails and visits.

At the end of the day, none require coaching on good manners. But, significantly, we all like to be treated well. So treat others the way we’d like to be treated. Good manners are, like all good things of life, timeless.

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