Central Argument: “The importance of acknowledging appreciation expressed” and being respectful will not change.
Woodstock School is a home to many people, staff and students alike, including me. Woodstock is set in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, and the school is home to people from different parts of the world. This means that it is culturally diverse, and students usually mix with people from other cultures. As mentioned by Linton Weeks in Please Read This Story, Thank You, no matter how much society changes, “the importance of acknowledging appreciation expressed” and being respectful will not change. I believe this is true because etiquettes and manners are ways of showing respect, and we cannot allow them to be replaced with casual slangs.
Since I was young, and I am sure this is true for many other people my age, my family always used to teach me basic manners. “Mom! May I have that chocolate?” would usually be answered with the words, “only if you say please.” Every time I forgot to use the “magic words,” I got “the stare” from my father, or a screaming from my aunt. I believe that I am the way I am today because of that kind of upbringing. I try to behave the best way I can at all times, and I also try to practice my manners in every situation. I was taught to be respectful all the time, and that is what I try to follow. There are many things that change with time, such as music, fashion, and language, but the importance of being respectful and practicing good manners does not change. Etiquettes and manners are means of expressing respect, and even though society goes through changes, respect is still respect.
I believe I am right when I say respect is appreciable to everyone. Parents always teach their children to be respectful, and those lessons are good things to practice and grow up with. Showing respect is really not a hard thing, but sometimes as Woodstockers, we tend to forget what we have learned, and that is a really bad manner.
As our generation is filled with new slangs, new words are used in place of the good old “magic words.” The introduction of slangs like “no probs,” and “sure thing,” seems to be very poor substitutes. They are very informal, and take the R-E-S, out of respect. It is ok to use these slangs with friends, but the old “magic words” should not be substituted when speaking with elders. In fact, they should be practiced even when speaking with friends. New slangs become so usual to the young crowd, and adopting them somewhat affect good manners. Even if society around us changes, we should not let it change our respect and acknowledgement of other people.
Linton Weeks is right in saying that the importance of being respectful and acknowledging people will not change. No matter how much the world changes, we should keep practicing these two important aspects of living a good life, and we must encourage the people around us to do the same.
No comments:
Post a Comment