C-O-U-R-T-E-S-Y.....Courtesy, Courtesy

O.k. So the title of my blog today is Courtesy and that is the closest I have ever come to leading a cheer, and thank god I didn't have put on the uniform or use the pom poms. With my legs,  that would not be a pretty sight.

Courtesy, its a commonly used word, but not so common in practice. Truth be told, there are a lot of discourteous people out there. I don't know how or when it happened, but somewhere along the line we gave up.

 Sometimes its as simple or difficult as respecting other peoples time. As in the woman in Subway last evening. My 20 year old son went into to Subway to order a sandwich. He was hungry after a long day at college and wanted something simple, that he didn't have to wait for, little did he know he'd chosen the wrong place. Subway seemed to fit the bill and moms wallet. He was in a great mood when he got out of the car, but when he returned 26minutes later, well suffice it say, the happy had gone. 

You see the Subway was empty when he entered, save for one other customer and her friend and the sandwich artist (yes that's what they call themselves). Brandon is patient and kind and though he might be tempted, he would never cause a public scene, although that doesn't mean he wouldn't have liked to tell the woman customer to zip her lip and move on (although as a 20 year old college student I'm fairly certain he would have chosen other, more intense language). You see said woman customer decided to make small talk with her sandwich artist. Asking everything from where she went to school, to what her career dreams were, to where she was born. As she "chatted" the line grew, but the chat continued. Either completely oblivious or completely inconsiderate and lacking in all courtesy for the time of those waiting, she continued her conversation digging for details about a a young woman she didn't know and would likely never see again. As I waited in the car I wondered what had happened to my son, were they baking fresh bread? What could be taking so long? In the end, Miss DIScourtesy, who spent her time with the Artist spinning a conversation of digressing time, back to child hood (since I assume she wasn't receiving the forthcoming answers she had hoped for about future dreams)  purchased a Salad. That's right a salad, doused in enough dressing that it defeated its own purpose and she might as well have ordered two 12 inch subs and filled up her belly for the same calorie count. Brandon's order took 3 minutes and when he told the clearly agitated Sandwich artist, as she asked him how he was, "I'm fine thank you, I just want to get my sandwich and go home".  With a sympathetic exchange of glances which said 'I know what you mean', she happily and efficiently made his order and got him on his way.

Courtesy is simply a dieing virtue. The slow death can be seen by that woman in the grocery store who gets in the express lane with a basket that clearly has 10 times more than the 15 item limit then proceeds to pull out her wad of coupons at the counter holding up the "Express" lane even longer. It could be that guy on the freeway who decides to creep his way as far forward as possible up the emergency lane after his merge lane has ended so he can squeeze in 4 cars further ahead.

Discourtesy, could be the teenagers on the Max line who refuse to stand up and offer their seats to the 84 year old woman or the grandfatherly figure with a cane. You can see courtesy die in the eyes of the driver who  insists on making their right hand turn even though you are still in the crosswalk either cutting you off at the front or grazing your backside.

The death of courtesy is the is the person who pushes their way past you in a crowd slamming their shoulder against yours knocking your coffee out of your hand, never stopping  to apologize or say excuse me.

Courtesy is defined as:

The showing of politeness in one's attitude and behavior toward others. A polite speech or action, esp. one required by convention.

Synonyms politeness - civility - comity - urbanity - mannerliness

Is it really that difficult? If we as parents teach it, instill it, insist upon it, in our children, maybe, just maybe we can keep it alive and bring its resurgence around.   I have taught my boys to always think of others, to observe their surrounding and be polite and civil according to each situation. Manners used to be an important element in the nurturing and molding of our children.  I thinks for the sake of society and the prevention of anarchy, we need to get back on track.