The civility which money will purchase, is rarely extended to those who have none. — Sketches by Boz

My Take – I have a duty to extend civility to everyone.  I’m not always friendly, and I’m rarely a smiling paragon of gregariousness, but I always try to treat people with respect.  It doesn’t matter to me how much money they have, or how they’re dressed, or where they’re from.  I like to be treated politely and with respect, so I deal with other people the same way.  I’m not perfect in my efforts, but I do try.

Not everyone behaves this way.  In fact, I see people be as sweet as honey toward people they like or they want something from, then crap all over someone who they believe is their inferior.  The lady in line for breakfast in front of me this morning is a prime example.  She was on her cell phone, talking in that high-volume, high-tone southern lady voice, bless her heart.   She was even smiling widely as she talked.  As soon as she got to the front of the line, she very politely excused herself to her friend on the phone, put it on mute, then proceeded to give the poor man working the cash register four rations of hell.  Her smile was long gone, her voice was an octave lower, she spoke to him as if he was wasting her time by taking her order, and the words “Please” and “Thank you” were gone.  To his credit, the man kept his cool, was polite and professional, and got on with his day. 

People like that are becoming depressingly common, and that’s regrettable.  Manners are a social lubricant, and the loss of them causes needless friction.  Their liberal use costs nothing, and can gain so much, that I cannot understand why more people refuse to use them.

In the little world in which children have their existence whosoever brings them up, there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt, as injustice. It may be only small injustice that the child can be exposed to; but the child is small, and its world is small, and its rocking-horse stands as many hands high, according to scale, as a big-boned Irish hunter. — Great Expectations

My Take – One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to teach my children is that life is rarely fair.  In fact, I’ve had to teach them that life is usually unfair in a way that goes against them.  Thing is, whether they accept this lesson from me or not, they will learn it.  My way is just a little easier than having life itself teach it.