Uncommon Courtesy

– By Zerrin –

Can you remember the last time someone saw that you were struggling with a heavy object and they rushed to get the door for you? How about the last time someone waited to tell you something to your face, rather than send an impersonal text? Neither can I; and as a teen in this generation, I’ve come to learn that common courtesy isn’t as common as we once thought it was.

Some types of courtesy have almost completely died out; young men holding doors and pulling out chairs for their dates being one of those types. Most boys don’t really pay attention to these details, but local teenager Duncan Heaney stands out from them. “Showing you’re a proper man shows that you can take responsibility, and treat a girl how she should be treated.” He goes on to say, “Common courtesy means to be a good neighbor to who you’re around, no matter how you feel about the person.”

Courtesy is slowly fading into nothingness, and it’s all over the place. People are starting to not use words like, “please”, “thank you” and “excuse me”. “It’s impossible to babysit anymore,” teen Sydnee Caskey points out. “Parents just don’t teach their kids manners, and when they aren’t required to say please and thank you, it gets really frustrating trying to teach them.”

It even goes so far as people breaking the law in some standings. Disabled local Shawn Depew states, “It’s sad that they have to make a law saying that people shouldn’t park in handicapped spots, or even that you’re legally obligated to help a blind person when they’re lost in the middle of the street.” He shakes his head with his next quip, “It should just be second nature.” Depew is just one of the many disabled people who believe this. When a person who can walk without any pain or any difficulty parks in a spot closer to the front because they are lazy, it can make things very challenging for someone that feels pain with each extra step they take.

Littering has also become a large concern. You would think that if you’re say, 10 or 20 feet from a garbage can, you’ll just walk over and throw it away, right? These days, that’s not always the case. Many people these days will just throw their garbage near the can, rather than taking the time to walk over and dispose of it properly. An even more commonly littered place would be the movie theater. People spill popcorn, soda, and candy all the time, and never pick it up. Understandable, as theaters are dark places and it can be hard to do without disturbing the other viewers, but it gets to the point of rude when people leave full sodas and half eaten bags of popcorn on the floor for the employees to pick up, or to get knocked over by others leaving the movie.

Everyone makes mistakes sometimes; cutting someone off that they didn’t see while driving, or forgetting a blinker every now and then, but can we find in ourselves to rise above uncommon courtesy, and do the right thing? The next time someone trips, be the person to lend a hand.

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