Pigs in Heaven: Courteous

Pigs in Heaven

With retractable and liberating wings....

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Courteous

Sometimes I'm really bewildered by the different expressions of being courteous by numerous people in different situations. When one hears the word courteous, there should only be a single notion in mind. Yet there are so many different scenes happening that allows people to present themselves as being courteous with a million different styles.

Courteous
Etymology: Middle English corteis, from Old French, from court
1 : marked by polished manners, gallantry, or ceremonial usage of a court
2 : marked by respect for and consideration of others
Quoted from Marriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Related Words: Polite, mannerly, civil, courteous, genteel
These adjectives mean mindful of, conforming to, or marked by good manners.
Polite and mannerly imply consideration for others and the adherence to conventional social standards of good behavior
Civil suggests only the barest observance of accepted social usages; it often means merely neither polite nor rude.
Courteous implies courtliness and dignity
Genteel, which originally meant well-bred, now usually suggests excessive and affected refinement
Quoted from Dictionary.com

so the conclusion is....... 'respect', 'consideration', 'good manners'

So do we get a consensus on the meaning of being courteous?

I strongly believe we have all been un-courteous or i should say rude before, especially when we are young kids. Times where we barge into people's belongings or the actual person without even apologising before shooting off like a rocket to carry on playing our games. But as we grow older and are more educated in many areas of our lives should we not be mindful of our manners? To allow someone else to feel valued as a person, the slightest feeling of gratitude, regret and inquiry requires only a syallable or two; 'Thank you', "Sorry' and 'Please'.

You must be wondering why the sudden urge to talk about being polite and courteous and all. Yes, I do admit that sometimes I am pretty rude as well but not in terms of manners rather in terms of tact (or unless the other party has chosen to be absolutely rude to me)

Something has troubled me yesterday in the office, its something very trivial but I thought that more respect should be given to me. I am not angry so I cannot deemed to be petty but it seriously made me think about the topic today. It has always been good manners in my perspective to ask if I needed something from anyone. Yet many of my preserved plums were taken from my desk, eaten right in front of my face loudly without the propensity to even tell me.

I was not angry since it's just food and how much can it cost even if he ate the whole box. But what made me think was the inability of a highly educated man to be respectful towards others by asking or at least telling? Perhaps he thinks he's superior in terms of qualifications and experience so he has the authority to take anything he wants and I'm at his mercy. I do empathise with a man who may think this way since I belive that one day he might be treated back in the same way too when he least expects.

This is only one situation. Yes, there are much more I can write about this but I shall stop at being 'petty' before I'm stoned to silence. Yes it happens, perhaps to most of us. It is just that most of the time, we have chosen to dispense it off with words like 'This is just the way he/she is, you cannot change the character of a person', 'nevermind, why create so much trouble? Just let it go'. I admit that sometimes I fall into this category of people too but I realise that many a times people take advantage of your good nature and you end up suffering the consequences of other people's actions. That is not fair. You may say that life is unfair but why choose to stay on the unfair side when you can make it fairer?

I truly hope that we have not been so highly educated that we do not see ourselves making the world only revolve around us and our loved ones and neglecting the people around you.

"If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers it shows he is a citizen of the world"
-Francis Bacon

posted by Oink @ 10/20/2005 05:10:00 PM

4 Comments:

At 11:05 AM, lAzy pAnda said…

next time he just take and eat in frnt of u, just say: "Oooh yes, sure you may have one..." be superfically sweet and ans AS IF he asked.

this is ur forte rem? wahahaahahhaa.......
At 12:24 PM, Oink said…

hahahaha.... maybe I will.... If he does that in front of me again... or perhaps I'll ask: "So how are the plums to your taste?"
At 3:26 PM, kittyn said…

which reminds me of this particular poetry exercise....

That Is Just To Say

I have eaten
The plums
That were in
The icebox

And which
You were probably
Saving
For breakfast

Forgive me
They were delicious
So sweet
And so cold

By William Carlos Williams
At 10:57 AM, lAzy pAnda said…

hahaaa tat's one of the poems we encountered during the poetry workshop.... nice little piece... i like the other, must dig it out and post it :D