In Honor Of National Etiquette Week

SO sorry I'm late.

Now, wasn't that polite? It should be. It's National Etiquette Week. Actually, it's Thursday of National Etiquette Week and I am a little late in starting this blog.

At the beginning of this year I made a decision - not a resolution, mind you - but a decision to be a bit more positive in my everyday life. However - and you KNEW there was going to be a however - the things that I can control are obviously a lot easier to be positive about than those many, many things that are out of my control. SO, for those things that are out of my hands, I have......THIS BLOG!
Now my husband and I spend a good deal of time ruminating about and bemoaning the lack of courtesy, manners and etiquette exhibited by the lion's share of our society these days. Jae has bought and read dozens upon dozens of books on the matter ranging from volumes from the 1800's to the present day and believe it or not their messages all boil down to one thing. Paying attention to what's going on around you and making others feel comfortable.

Look, I am the first one to say that I am not necessarily any smarter than anyone else. I am DEFINITELY not any nicer than most people. I just tend to be conscious about the world around me and care about the feelings of those with whom I share the world.  And I don't think manners should be used to put anyone "in their place" in any way.
No. The whole idea behind manners is to make everyone around you more comfortable with any given situation.

In this day and time between personal technology, things getting faster and closer and more easily accessible makes the situation bad to begin with. Add to that the fact that an entire generation of children who were never taught how to live politely in society are now HAVING children who will apparently not be taught any better habits and it starts to be obvious why I tend to weep for the future.

So I'm going to do my best to write about this subject with as much levity as I can muster without making light of the fact that any message I might bring is WAY overdue.......in my humble opinion.
As the weeks progress I will relate my concerns and observations and I would love to have your comments or suggestions as we explore this subject together.