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Common courtesy not so common nowadays
March 29, 2011
By
Lauren Pelley
There I was, standing rather flustered in the lobby of Parkwood Hospital, having just finished an interview with a lovely lady whose husband of over four decades was slowly dying of lung and brain cancer. It was a sad conversation that left me slightly under the weather.
But after the interview I became lost several times in the maze that’s found in every hospital in the world, and my sadness was quickly replaced with agitation. By the time I’d found my way to the lobby – the correct lobby this time, as opposed to the wrong lobby I’d already been waiting in for 20 minutes – I was rather exasperated.
Where was the bus stop? Did the bus really even come through the hospital grounds? How was I going to get home and do the million of things on my to-do list in time?
“Excuse me, ma’am,” said a hoarse voice beside me. I looked over at the elderly fellow also waiting in the lobby, sitting in his electric wheelchair with tubes poking out of numerous unseen places. “Are you waiting for the bus?”
I held up the bus schedule I’d been fidgeting with. “I am,” I replied.
He motioned to a yellow sign across the parking lot that I hadn’t yet noticed. “There’s the stop,” he said with a toothless smile. “Have a wonderful day.”
I smiled back and thanked him, then ran out to catch my bus.
The whole thing got me thinking. Our generation doesn’t seem to do things like that very often – simple things like talking to a stranger, offering assistance, paying attention to anything outside our own little world. I’ve been guilty of it. And I’m sure you have to.
On the bus ride home from Parkwood, I recalled numerous occasions when someone has stumbled onto the bus on crutches or with armfuls of groceries. Young folks like you and me often don’t pay attention or readily offer a helping hand.
The most common experience I’ve had is simply those jam-packed rides when the bus driver will say curtly, “Move to the back!” It’s a common courtesy that should be common sense. Yet students so often meet this simple request with a deer-in-the-headlights look on their faces. “What,” those blank faces ask indignantly. “Are you talking to me?”
Perhaps it’s our modern sense of entitlement, or simply a disconnect from past ideals, but whatever the reason – it’s clear. Our generation typically lacks manners and common courtesy.
But as we’re getting ready to enter the workforce, political arena and public sphere, we need to start thinking about how some positive changes to our behaviour will resonate throughout our society. Many of us are quick to jump on the bandwagon for trendy philanthropic causes or social justice initiatives – but why do we often forget to show simple human decency to those around us?
If we stop and think about it, we could learn a thing or two from that toothless fellow.
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Lauren Pelley is commencing the Master's in Journalism program here at Western, following a four-year undergraduate degree in International Relations. She's been involved with the Gazette since first year and has since been a News Editor, Associate Editor, Senior Editor, Arts & Entertainment Editor and, for Volume 104, is in the new role of Creative Director.
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