Happy Wednesday everyone! Today we ask (as you can see in the title of this post), why is etiquette important? A reader who agreed with yesterday’s post about saying please and thank you (to which we say thank you for reading, commenting and agreeing!) shared a link to his blog Middle Man. In it he writes:
“Manners, good and bad. Etiquette. Class. They have been much in the news recently. I am not entirely sure why this is newsworthy when there is a war on in Iraq and Afghanistan and a maniac gunman is massacring students in American universities. But, newsworthy it seems to be.”
To which I rambled on and on and on replied:
… I’m convinced that if we keep spreading kindness, it’ll eventually catch on. Pollyanna-ish? Maybe, but I’m OK with being called that name — I’ve been called worse! As for the seemingly sudden interest in etiquette and manners, especially when there are so many more important things going on in the world, maybe because hate, war and all around sadness dominate the headlines, we are searching for goodness in ourselves and others. Also, as our respective countries become further entwined via the global economy and our various ethnicities, cultures and religions clash and meld, we are compelled — or should be — to search for ways to get along socially and in business.
As Emily Post, the grande dame of etiquette said, “Etiquette is the science of living. It embraces everything. It is ethics. It is honor.” I couldn’t agree more.
Dear readers, if you know me at all, you know that this I believe (where’s Ira Glass?) with all of my pollyanna-ish heart. Please be kind — maybe even learn to use the right fork, but that isn’t as important — and maybe, just maybe we can all just get along. Come on friends, help me spread good manners! I promise, it won’t hurt and, it might even help.
In unrelated business, happy Shark Week!
From the Preppy Princess
The Preppy Princess (master of fun photo finding) shared this on her Facebook page and we couldn’t resist reposting. We wish someone would do this to our office building. Sigh.
Cheers!
M
Melanie Warner Spencer 