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Good Manners
I believe in manners. I have always believed in the value of acting properly in public, whether I am in the company of complete strangers or closest friends. I’ve always been the girl who would mind what other people would feel or think in certain situations. I used to doubt myself and think that maybe caring so much about what others will think is a reflection of a deep-seated insecurity with myself, or the incessant need to be accepted. Or that I am just too maarte and high-maintenance.
But last night, I found an old book that made me realize that there is nothing wrong with why I am like this. I have just learned to teach myself good etiquette, and my belief in them is so passionate that they have become ingrained to my everyday manner, a part of parcel of who I am.
Last night I was instantly relieved for:
- spending so little time inside the rest room (I used to think that I am missing a girly gene because while other girls take 10-minute weewee breaks, I take 2. It’s true, ask my boyfriend)
- throwing minor trash inside my bag instead of outside the car
- saying sorry when I dialed a wrong number
- refusing to really gossip, either to tolerate or pass along one. Hey, I wouldn’t want myself to be a victim of one! Why tolerate it when it happens to others?
- while crossing the street, expecting a man I am walking with to be in the side where the cars are coming from (so that he can save me from being hit first by renegade, reckless and stupid drivers)
- in the escalator, expecting a man I am with to be in front when going down, and behind while going up (just so he can catch me if my 4-inch heels fail to keep me upright, but I make my boyfriend do this so that people below couldn’t see through when I’m wearing a short skirt :p)
…and many, many others
Conclusively, I feel better knowing that I generally treat people and the world with respect. I admit that I have my bitchy-moments, but those are things that I am working very hard to curb and stay away from. And more often than not, those happen only when provoked, so they don’t count haha! Seriously, I am good. Promise.
Thanks to Julie Yap Daza for publishing a no non-sense guide to etiquette, “Manners for Moving Up”.
Cheers to a better world!
-Isa Dumandan
