Good Manners

 
Mothers spend a lot of time teaching small children to say please and thank you, and to chew with their mouths closed in case table mates have delicate tummies.   The most important teaching is never to whisper a private message to one person while other people are looking on ... 

An elderly mother feels sad when she discovers  a middle aged child still exhibiting this kind of immature behavior ...

I grew up in a small Southern town among people who weren't always taught to be considerate of the feelings of others.

I think of those old folks back home sometimes ... Remembering how unkind a few of them could be,  under the guise of having fun ... never owning up to the cruelty they displayed ... making unkind statements and innuendoes if they could get by with it ... Quickly howling "I was just kidding" when they didn't get by. 

Which did I dislike more?  The cruelty or the dishonesty? 

I hated a mean spirit hidden behind a sweet face. 

I still do.

Far away from that rural town of the 1940's, this type of unattractive behavior can still be found today.   We all have a sprinkling of close friends, distant relatives, neighbors old and new ... ready and willing to sadden our days with thinly veiled hatefulness ... as much as they can get by with ... and if they don't get by with it? ... if we confront them?   oh, well, they were only joking.  Good lord!  Let's not be so thin-skinned here!

I'm laughing ...

No, actually, I'm not laughing at all.  I resent cruelty hidden beneath a thin veneer of niceness.



email:  MelindaGerner@Yahoo.com