By Ale Ibarra Posted November 13, 2018
There are many customs that should still be practiced by everyone but unfortunately aren’t because of the way they were raised. For example, young people calling adults by their rightful title of “Mr.”, “Miss”, or “Mrs.”, is no longer happening with coaches, people in the supermarkets, or even as far as in school. There are many students who may think it’s funny to call an adult by their first name when that should never be done. It’s a common sense sort of thing that every kid should learn to do, starting from their homes. I have seen some kids call their parents by their first names and to me, is one of the reasons why they end up being so disrespectful and inconsiderate as they grow older.
Common courtesy has been degrading throughout the years. I know I’m still less than two decades old, but a lot of things have changed. I remember going to family events and actually spending time with people that I hadn’t seen in a long time. Now, when families come together, people my age are usually too busy to look their grandpa in the eye because of some notifications on their phones. It’s not even always my generation either. There are plenty of adults who could use an eye-opening experience to know that a cell phone is literally stealing valuable time from their lives. Turn off the phone at a dinner party, and be in the moment. You’re annoying at least one person who thinks you have no social skills. At the bare minimum, put it on silent. It’s a common thing that should be done without thought, but it sadly isn’t.
Another concept that people seemed to have forgotten, is saying please and thank you. When a person goes out of their way to do you a favor, the least you can do is say ‘thank you’. If you want to make yourself look like an even more decent person, you could even return the nice gesture by doing them a favor. There are also those people that expect you to say thank you but when you do, they don’t say anything. Every time. Isn’t the correct response to ‘thank you’, ‘you’re welcome’? It doesn’t make sense to get offended when you don’t get a ‘thank you’ if you don’t return it with a ‘you’re welcome’.
Maybe you didn’t get taught to be polite in your home, but in life, people won’t care about that. It’s up to you to catch on and learn the common courtesies of life to be able to coexist peacefully.
