It seems a goodly portion of society today has forgotten their manners. Or, maybe they didn’t have them in the first place. What happened to all the Grandmas insisting the young ones say please and thank you and respect their elders? Are people with impeccable manners a thing of the past? Gosh…I surely hope not.

There are regional rules of etiquette. Young people in the south are routinely taught to say “Yes, ma’am” and “No, sir”. While hand written thank you notes seem to be positively prehistoric to most people today. Things are much more relaxed in the West, but here in West Virginia…in my generation…we were taught good manners. We even had special assemblies in school where we learned the proper way to put on a coat and to enter a room. How to shake hands and make eye contact. 

When my girls were young, I taught them what all the spoons and forks were for in a formal place setting, just in case they found themselves in such a situation. They learned to converse with adults. I taught them their opinion mattered…even when it differed with that of management…ie, their parents. I took my older daughter’s friends out for breakfast at McDonald’s and we played a game I called “Worse Case Scenario”. I’d give them a hypothetical situation and they discussed it amongst themselves and decided what the best course of action would be. Those kids are grown and sending their own kids off to college. They still remember that game.

Mr. FixIt has such old world manners. When we were first dating, he opened the car door for me every time. I soon told him that was fine for dates, but he needn’t do that every time. Still, when we walk down the street together, he always walks to the outside between me and traffic. It’s charming. He won my heart when he bowed his head in front of my mom’s grave and introduced himself to her. He told her how much he loved me and that he would take good care of me till the day he dies. He melts my heart.

There’s something I have noticed when we drive places. I almost always do the driving. Sometimes I’ll catch a quick movement out of the corner of my eye and look over at him. I can tell he moved, but I wasn’t quite sure what he was doing. I didn’t want to ask him…I wanted to figure it out on my own. I finally got my answer on our way home from the beach last weekend. 

We switched turns driving in Charlottesville, VA. Some ways down the road, I happened to be looking over at him when I caught a swift motion. He was saluting! I looked back at the road just in time to see a sign on the bridge we were crossing. It had been dedicated to the memory of a certain soldier. There was an American flag stuck on the sign. My husband was physically honoring a fallen soldier and our flag!

My heart swelled with pride and tears stung my eyes. What a beautiful thing to do. We also pull over for funeral processions. He has such a huge heart. We neither one had the best of childhoods, but I thank his late mama for teaching him how to be a good husband. I wish more men were like my Mr. FixIt. The world would be a more loving and honorable place.

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“Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ but now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.”

1 Samuel 2:30 ESV

#Esteem, #Honor, #Manners