To wax lyrical on the relative awesomeness of yesteryear
whilst decrying all that is modern is a popular pastime for the silver haired
folk who hark back to these halcyon times albeit through a clouded lens that
hardly bears up to scrutiny.
Indeed it is unlikely that the word awesome is found in
their vocabulary!
It’s an Urban Myth.
The idyllic past inhabited by genial souls behind pristine picket fences
who collectively interact in a pre Facebook form of connectivity is the stuff
of romantic novelists.
Child labour, civil rights abuse, cultural insensitivity,
profound poverty and an expectation that an attack on your tribe should earn
you a conscription to bear arms-axe, bayonet or something equally blood
curling, as you defend your own in face to face mortal combat –all seem less
appetizing in hindsight!
Which brings me to a topic that seems rather trivial in
comparison. Despite the aforementioned Urban Myth – I would suggest that some
of the glue that binds society has been diluted due to the demise of…wait for
it…common courtesy.
Actually rather uncommon courtesy! No I’m not referring to
the stifling impotence of the characters of a Jane Austin novel, but rather
that quaint habit of acknowledgment.
Call it a social nicety, or perhaps the act of being polite.
Eye contact in public is discouraged. Should you hold a door open for someone
under the age of 40 it will more often than not be unacknowledged.
Where once
we were acutely aware of the science of moving in crowds, sub consciously
anticipating the speed. Trajectory and width of all within a circumference of
20 metres, and instinctively would subtly adjust our route to accommodate –
this apparently has been lost.
Attachment to an IPod, whilst editing status updates to
Twitter and Facebook and adeptly juggling the ubiquitous cup of coffee
apparently abdicates all responsibility to move in anything other than the
shortest route to ones plotted destination!
There was once an art to small talk. The inability or
reluctance to nod appropriately to a peer whilst fluently stating something
obvious such as the state of the weather, with an engaging facial expression
was very much frowned upon.
As social courtesies become less of normal societal protocol
a price is paid. Societies become less friendly, interactions more testy, and
anonymity can gradually manifest into the scourge of the 21st
century –depression.
The health of societies often seem at their zenith during
rebuilding periods between tragic adversities such as post war rebuilding,
earthquakes, tsunami’s and so forth.
It would be good to wind back just a little to yesteryear
when societies embraced its individual and were bonded by an accumulation of
immeasurable gestures, smiles, and apologies for colliding.
Oh and of course that inane but strangely effective ritual of
commenting on the weather. As the “Irish would say ‘Soft Day thank God!” which
pretty much summed up any day other than a sunny one!!
Comments