etiquette -
–noun
1. conventional requirements as to social behavior; proprieties of conduct as established in any class or community or for any occasion.
2. a prescribed or accepted code of usage in matters of ceremony, as at a court or in official or other formal observances.
3. the code of ethical behavior regarding professional practice or action among the members of a profession in their dealings with each other: medical etiquette.
People would come in and out of the auditorium during the performance of the students. They didn’t bother to wait until they had finished or until there was a break in the performance. Cell phones were going off, even though there was an announcement that the concert was being recorded and would everyone please, turn off their cell phones! Kids were being allowed to get up and run in and out. And, people would talk during the performance and I even saw some texting or playing games on their phones!
What has happened to our society? Where is the common decorum of simply sitting still and paying attention to a performance to enjoy what is being shared? I know this much, etiquette in no longer being taught to our children therefore it is slowly fading from our society and culture. I also know this: when budget cuts come to education, one of the first areas to be done away with is music and arts. By doing that we are steadily destroying our culture and when that happens something else will fill the void and it is not usually a very good thing.
This common courtesy of etiquette is not just being lost in our schools, but it is quickly fleeing from any public forum. In church we now must plead with members to “shut off their cell phones” or at least “silence them” otherwise one will go off at the most inappropriate time. We have kids who don’t know how to sit and listen to a presentation, a lecture, a concert or even a movie. We have adults who cannot even do that. What is the answer?
We have a responsibility to pass on proper etiquette and decorum to the next generation, to our children. We must teach, by example and mentoring, what it means to be courteous, to listen, to participate with proper decorum so that society doesn’t fall into anarchy. I know many in my generation said that the “rules” were made to be broken. Hogwash! Some rules are necessary in order for humans to function in true liberty! Without certain rules, we would be left to ourselves and then every one of us would do “whatever is right in their own eyes.”
Oh, wait a minute, I think that is what we are doing now! God, have mercy on us!
Tags: anarchy, chopin, decorum, education, etiquette, example, mentoring, music and arts, society
