I
will be reading a lot of business books for a class I am taking and one
particular book on etiquette caught my eye. I personally like to say “Good
morning” or “Morning” to the people I work with.
My
first job required it! When I came into Perkins Drugstore, I was to greet the
pharmacist and customers waiting for prescriptions and those in the aisles.
Whether, I was in a good mood or not (being a teenager at the end of a school
day usually meant not), but my bosses wanted this open rapport from coworkers.
And
yet, now I may not. I play a game of invisibility. “Is a glimmer of
acknowledgment in a fleeting encounter so burdensome? Are we shy? Are we lazy?
Are we prey to misguided pride? Are we so goal-directed that we won’t bother
with anything that doesn’t advance our progress toward our goal, whatever that
might be? Are our souls shrinking beyond repair?”
Wow!
“Are our souls shrinking beyond repair?” is a statement that stings me.
I
am reading Choosing Civility: The Twenty-five Rules of Considerate Conduct by
P.M. Forni. Written in 2002, he also published, The Civility Solution: What to
Do When People are Rude in 2009.
The
second rule states, “A simple ‘Hello’ or ‘Good morning’ is the most basic form
of acknowledgement. Every day when we arrive at our workplaces, we greet our
coworkers. As a rule, we don’t infuse our greeting with particular intensity.
There is no need to. A greeting is a minimal yet meaningful conferral of honor
on a person for just being a person. With it, not only do we acknowledge and
validate, but we also put at ease and wish well.”
On
the radio this morning, the guest was talking about George Washington. He said
that President Washington lacked leadership qualities in battle like making strategic
mistakes, being indecisive or unable to make a decision at all. Many of his men
left and joined the British. The one thing Washington did consistently was to
be passionate about the cause of freedom.
I
am passionate about libraries, but that does not excuse my short comings.
George Washington said it best, “Every action done in company, ought to be with
some sign of respect to those that are present.”
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