Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Manners Please!

Having good manners means being extremely respectable. It requires from you to use your etiquettes in everything you do whether it was in the house or in a restaurant..

You can start by using words like "thank you", "please" and "excuse me". Be the first to greet people you know or you don't know. When addressing a person you don't know use "Sir" and "Madame". The point here isn't to use those words sometimes and sometimes no. You have to be persistent. It has to come genuinely from you. It doesn't matter if you were speaking to an older person or a child. Using your manners shouldn't change regardless of the place, the time, the situation or the people. And that includes using your manners with people you don't like as well.

Other than words, you can use your manners when driving. It's a matter of safety as well. Following the laws, giving signals, don't honk, don't tailgate, stop for pedestrians. This is a very important thing we lack in our Arab World. We don't need a traffic policeman to use our manners. In Western countries, a car will stop on the red light at 12 a.m. in the morning where there is no human passing not because he is afraid of the camera or a ticket but because he respects the law and uses his manners.

Holding doors open to other people, giving up your seat on a public transportation to an elderly or a pregnant woman, these are also great manners.

One manner we lack of in our Arab countries is congratulating someone who just got promoted or someone who done something worthy of praise. We have to get over our egos and wish good to others same as if it was us. Always treat people the way you would like to be treated.

A nation without manners can never progress. Period!

By Heidi Shebaro
Founder of " The Kindness Project in the Middle East", a teacher and a blogger

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