Manners

I am lucky to have great parents who taught me many things. One thing in particular that they wanted me to learn at a young age was the importance of manners. Whether it is saying please and thank you or opening the door for someone behind me, they did their best to make sure I turned out polite.

I think they realized that good manners are valuable, but even more, they knew that bad manners are gross. I am starting to realize this myself.

Often I will go to the library to write. I find there is something about being around books that helps stimulate ideas and makes it easier for words to flow onto the page.

Being at the library helps me appreciate learning and writing, among other things. Just the other day I was at the library when I saw someone who really made me appreciate good manners.

When I walked into the library and started looking for an open seat, I noticed one by a man who had headphones on, was drinking a Shasta Root Beer and watching a movie on a portable DVD player. This guy seemed like he was minding his own business, so I sat down and began to write.

All of a sudden I heard a loud burp. At first I started to chuckle. I’ll admit that I have an eight year old somewhere inside of me that still finds burps funny. But even eight year old me would only laugh at the first burp.

Just a couple of minutes later, the same guy burped again.

I don’t know if it was because this guy had headphones on or if he just couldn’t control his Shasta Root Beer, but he didn’t seem to notice how loud and distracting the burps were. Not to mention disgusting.

I was at the library less than two hours and I counted nine total burps from this dude.

I don’t know if that is called bad manners or just being barbaric, but whatever it is, it made me thankful that my parents taught me the importance of good manners. Thanks mom and dad!