There are things I miss about my past, and most are very small and almost forgotten. I miss the sound of the Good Humor man’s bell and the crowd of children getting a snack on a hot summer’s day, I miss the sound of children outside my door playing long forgotten games such as Kick the Can and Red Rover, I miss the sound booth at the record store where one could hear the LP record whose purchase was under consideration, and I miss gas that was pumped for one for twenty-five cents a gallon.
But the one thing I do miss that is not small ---- is manners. I do not mean by that the formalized bow to rank as in Victorian times, but the kindness that goes with making those around one comfortable. I watched the recent inauguration ceremony and saw nothing but the absence of any thoughtfulness. The chief figure in that ceremony thought nothing of denigrating the outgoing official who was sitting right there. And that was at a ceremony he did not even bother to attend four years before. The last official was not perfect --- none of us are--- and the new official has many things he wishes to do. But that scene was not the place to make anyone feel small or unappreciated. It simply lacked any consideration of manners, and I miss that.
Perhaps, when we open this new Pandora’s box and all the evils of the world are let loose, one of the last things to come out of the box will be hope and perhaps, fluttering behind it, will be manners still alive and well. We can only hope.