Miss Manners Would Be Appalled
I grew up in a small town, so maybe I was spoiled from the beginning. But it seems to me we used to smile at each other a whole lot more than we do now. In fact, it seems as if a smile is met with an answering scowl more often than not these days. So, whatever happened to smiling at strangers?Our world is speeding up while our manners seem to be slowing down. When you smile at someone now, they look at you suspiciously and wonder what you’re up to or if you’re about to grab their baby from them. There used to be a time when a friendly smile and eye contact was the norm, when we were greeted with dirty looks if we didn’t act friendly. I even find myself raising a suspicious eyebrow if a stranger seems to be getting too chatty with my young children. How did we wind up this way?
Some might say this lack of friendliness is a result of the corporate world we live, but I want to put forth a different suggestion: Perhaps our corporate, cold world is a result of our changing attitude toward strangers.
Whatever the case, this world could sure use with a dose of happy. Therefore, I propose that each of us focus on repaying suspicious glances, dirty looks and downright frowns with the type of friendly, good-natured cheer we used to greet strangers with. Do we really want to be teaching our children that it’s appropriate to be so mistrustful of everyone? Doesn’t that perpetuate the sour manners of our country?