A BLESSING AND A CURSE!

     "Good manners sometimes means simply putting up with other people's bad manners." (H. Jackson Brown)

     Somewhere along the line, I was given the title "The Man with Impeccable Manners" by the 'woman' who boisterously kicked me off her property over four terrible, horrible, no good, very bad words I muttered (definitely a story for another time). While the moniker is pretty much true, having good manners is both a blessing and a curse.

      Besides having good manners; I am polite, respectful, and reasonably well-spoken in a usually soft manner.  I open doors for people and say 'Please' and 'Thank you.' I was one of the lucky ones; my folks (may they rest in peace) are responsible. Through their words and modelling, I was always told or shown 'Be nice' and 'Don't fight,' and I really am, and I don't. Those concepts have kept me out of trouble through the years. It is rare that I actually speak up because most things simply aren't worth it; something has to be really bad for me to say something. Even in the classroom, I rarely got angry angry.

     Now that things in society have gotten really ba (IMHO), I struggle with 'Should I or should I not say something,' but I usually don't because what I generally don't do is confront people - I don't try to explain why they are wrong. What is happening these days is (IMHO) unprecedented; it's like we are back in the 1950's all over again when people knew their place.

     Picture a large open umbrella (outside, of course - indoors, it used to be considered bad luck. Superstition said if you opened an umbrella indoors, it was an insult to the sun god, and bad luck would 'rain' on you). The umbrella was labeled 'America,' and under the umbrella were balloons; anyone there was'an American.' There were white balloons, black balloons, yellow balloons, etc. That's an updated version of the melting pot analogy, which morphed into a stew in which all the pieces there became a homogenized indistinct unit, but as we have 'advanced,' the pieces still maintained individual identities; they didn't melt but maintained their individual identities and qualities and added to and enhanced a delicious whole.

     Back in the day, when I taught Of Mice and Men, we talked about the American Dream and what made a 'good American.' The lists of positive qualities the classes came up with made the Boy Scouts' qualities look evil (trustworthy, loyal, helpful courteous,,etc., etc). I wonder what that class list would look like today (nasty, intolerant, rude, etc).

     Anyhow, time to stop for now. Remember, ultimately, much of what I post tries to make better individuals, better family people, and better citizens. Please keep that in mind as you read my 'stuff' and think about it.