Courtesy throughout the generations has deteriorated among everyone. Possible causes for the decline of courtesy in society are lower standards of morals, the courtesy we receive ourselves, and the want for materialistic things. With the demeanor of morals, self-confidence, and values being little to none; courtesy among ourselves and strangers has diminished. In a whole, society has turned into greedy and self-absorbed people. The standard morals of now differ highly from generations ago.
People were more giving, helpful, and sympathetic before my time. The incessant want for materialistic things has turned our generation into “green-eyed” monsters. As a result of our selfishness, courtesy among people in general is now hateful. We respond to people in need in a way that is egotistic. We feel that we will never have to be in a position of need a dime for that extra emergency phone call, or we will never have a tire blow-out on the highway. We, our society, thinks too highly of itself causing us to not be empathetic.
In the same way that moral values affect our kindness and courtesy, the response we receive from other people affect our reactions. For instance, when standing in a grocery line being checked out and not having quite the right change. If a willing person behind you were to spare some change, you would be more likely to return the favor towards another person short on hand. Similarly, when driving through heavy traffic; if someone were to cut you off, you would be more prone to drive offensively.
In addition to our moral values and the way respond to others, we tend to have not realized the importance of human life. We blow off a kind thank you and not even think of the impact that a compliment would have on someone. A kind attitude or a courteous gesture shown would give people a reason to be courteous to others. We take human feelings and random acts of kindness for granted everyday. An excuse me, or a thank you goes unnoticed and unappreciated in our daily lives.
We assume that a person really isn’t sorry, or really doesn’t care if you were to get on the first available elevator even though it was full. This lack of recognition towards other people’s kindness causes us to not be courteous towards others. It is always the extra smile you give to your waitress even though she has messed up your order, and the extra time you waste to let the pregnant mother have your taxi. On the whole, if we were to be able to recognize the reasons that cause our inability to be courteous towards others, we would be able to solve it.
It’s that extra mile that people go to show appreciation that people notice, and give respect to. A kind act shown to us would make us retaliate with kinds act on other people. Even though our moralistic values and over all quality of life has declined, we could still stop and think to recognize other people. We could stop this ongoing issue of not being able to lend a helping hand. The declination of courtesy towards other people could stop somewhere if one person would stand up and show a random act of kindness.
