Manners

“Please Read This Story, Thank You” by Linton Weeks

Central Argument: The current world has forgotten basic etiquettes and manners however the one thing they haven’t forgotten is the “importance of acknowledging appreciation expressed.”

I disagree with Linton Weeks on his story about manners amongst people today. I think that people have changed their way of acknowledging appreciation expressed by someone, and that those new ways are not wrong or bad. There are many things that have changed since when our grandparents or even our parents lived. They lived in a different generation than what we are living in now, therefore they will not relate to many phrases that we use today. However, this does not mean that we are wrong or rude. People like to acknowledge appreciation in different ways with different people.

            When I meet people for the first time I usually say “hello.” However, if I am really close to you and know you are a more personal level, I am more comfortable saying “wazzup” “hey” or “hi.” I prefer it because it is more colloquial therefore I am more comfortable with it. I am never going to ask my cousins “would you like some soda?” I am just going to say “yo, you want some?” They are my cousins; there is no need for me to speak formally with them. Formal language is exhausting for my generation. It is hard for us to speak that way because we are not used to it. My parents are used to it, and so are my grandparents, therefore they find it normal and easy to speak like that. Our language shows the same acknowledgement as my parents or my grandparents’ generation does.

            In European history at one point manners became really important. If people didn’t go to church, they were seen as bad and rude people. Church was no longer attended by people to go and worship and pray; people went because they wanted to have good manners. The entire purpose of a church vanished. Manners change over time, therefore it is wrong to call big groups of people “rude” if you are not from their generation. For my generation now just smiling at a person and listening to a person shows that you have good manners. Even if we just nod at someone who just said “hi” it is okay, and considered as good manners. We haven’t forgotten basic manners, manners just changed over time. Mixing with the “untouchables” in India was considered as a bad manner too. This changed over time because the British came and changed the ways of India.

            Our environment contributes to the way we behave. We are in a digital era now. I remember telling my mom that my friend broke up with her boyfriend today while they were chatting. She was shocked that they broke up over the internet, even though they were going to see each other that same evening for a social activity. It is really common now to break up on internet by just simply changing your relationship status on Facebook. It is okay to do that now. Some people mind it, and prefer to do it in person, however, that is because this concept is still new and fresh to many people. Once this becomes more common and popular everyone will be comfortable doing important things over the internet. My mom told me that the boy had no manners breaking up with my friend like that. Now I realize that this will soon change. My mom only said this because she is not very familiar with the digital era, because she doesn’t encounter it as much. It will no longer be a bad manner for people to break up like that, because Facebook is widely used, and it will become easy to break up through it.

            Manners change over time; however, they don’t forget the importance of acknowledging appreciation expressed. Manners change because of change in environment and situations. Therefore I strongly believe calling huge groups of people, who are not part of you generation, is wrong and ignorant. The way people talk to other people shows who they are comfortable with and who they are not very comfortable with, therefore the way they speak should be entirely up to them to decide, not the world.