Social Graces and Civility

We have been discussing manners in our house today... what are some good manners, how they have changed over time (and boy have they changed... will get to that in a moment). Joshua wrote out some manners /habits that he wants to work on and I read through some manners that George Washington outlined in Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour
http://www.history.org/Almanack/life/manners/rules2.cfm. On a funny note here are a couple that gave me the chuckles (I have tried to change the spelling a bit as its original spelling is old Englishy:

• Shake not the head, feet or legs, rowl not the eyes, lift not one eyebrow higher than the other. Wry not the mouth and bedew no mans face with your spittle, by approaching to near him when you speak

• Kill no vermin as fleas, lice or ticks in the sight of others, if you see any filth or thick spittle, put your foot dexteriously upon it if it be upon the clothes of your companions. Put if off privately, and if it be upon your own clothes, return thanks to him who puts it off.

• If you cough, sneeze, sigh or yawn, do it not loud but privately; and speak not in your yawning, but put your handkerchief or hand before your face and turn aside.

• Read no letters, books or papers in company but when there is a necessity for the doing of it you must ask leave: come not near the books or writings of another so as to read them unless desired or give your opinion of them unasked. Also look not nigh when another is writing a letter

I could go on and on but what has struck me most (on a serious note) is that this was written by George Washington sometime before he was 16.

On Monday I took the children to the hospital on the bus for Owen's appointment. On the way home a huge group of highschool students jumped on the bus. The remainder of the journey I was desperately hoping my impressionable seven year old would not comprehend or repeat the filthy talk I heard from the mouth of some boys in front. Honestly I was dumbfounded ! The things the boys were saying to eachother was so degrading and foul. And I would say these boys were about 16 or so...

So I guess I can appreciate a little more why elderly folks tend to say that kids today have no respect/ are bad mannered....

Of course this isn't the situation for all teenagers. It just got me thinking about integrity/spirituality and respect... food for thought and things to pray for my children....