Kayne West trashes Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at theVMAs, then goes home and apologizes on his blog! Joe Wilson's "You Lie" outburst at the President Obama was the shout heard round the world.
Manners. Do either of these mean know what it means to have manners? Before you tell me I am behind the times and no one cares about manners anymore, hear me out.
Good manners are not about how you hold your cup of tea or where you place your silverware. At the root of it, manners are having respect for other people. The "Golden Rule" idea that you should treat others how you wish to be treated. We teach small children this rule but it makes it hard when public figures like Kayne West, Joe Wilson can't control themselves.
Wilson and West need a day or two with my mother-in-law, because she is one of the classiest ladies I've ever met. Patricia is an Irish-Catholic mother who raised her family "old school." Despite not having much money, she made sure her children knew it was important to respect others and have good manners. My mother-in-law is one of my favorite human beings on the planet because she's graceful, funny, witty but she will not tolerate bad manners.
I guarantee Kayne and Joe would have a whole new outlook on life if they spent just one day with Patricia. If they could last one day.
Class has nothing to do with money and everything to do with respect. If you have a class, you don't think it's always about YOU, you realize that life is about ALL of us.
Come to think of it, maybe President Obama should fly in my MIL to deal with the health care crisis! I'd pay a million bucks to be in a room as Patricia, the Irish Catholic matron, quietly questions some of our nation's leaders about why it's okay to have so many children uninsured! Or the President could let her spend a day with the giant mortgage lenders who took the bailout money but aren't passing it along to the people they were supposed to help. Trust me, you'd want to a ticket to see that show.
The "Me First" mentality has poisoned our culture. The rude behavior of Wilson, West are just a symptom of the problem. What's it going to take to bring manners back into the daily lives of Americans? My mother-in-law can't visit every American door-to-door, so what's another option?
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The truly sad thing is this -- most adults are shocked at her good manners. She is a great kid on many levels, but I am especially proud that she has lovely manners. If my nine-year-old can manage it, why can't rock stars and politicians?
Thank you !!!
My boys got babysat by an English grandmother. Now there's a reinforcement of good manners!
My 16-year-old dresses Goth/metal most days and gets an impish delight from the looks he gets when he opens doors for women and helps older people carry their groceries -- or scolds other guys for trash-talking girls.