I too always try to find the good side of people no matter what, and will go out of the way to help. I work in customer service, and the dealers I work with rely on me to help them. They also like the fact that I recognize them immediately when they call, and that I actually take the time to call them back. I guess common courtesy and respect is something that's not part of the picture these days. I agree if you give someone help in a kind, helpful manner, the response back is a good one.

John

we have always had among us good and bad, and no one is good all the time,
however we still have living amongst us, the people who show mercy -
people who show love -people who will give you a hand up , if you are down...
there is nothing new/knew under the sun -

we still have the echoes of the insane peoples -such as this man from which I will quote:
The invalid is a parasite on society. In a certain state it is indecent to go on living. To vegetate on in cowardly dependence on physicians and medicaments after the meaning of life, the right to life, has been lost ought to entail the profound contempt of society.
Friedrich Nietzsche he was/is the inspiration for Hitler's of the world - such as we are in -with a tyrant at the helm...

Nazi ideology drew on the racist doctrines of the comte de Gobineau and Houston Stewart Chamberlain, on the nationalism of Heinrich von Treitschke, and on the hero-cult of Friedrich Nietzsche, often transforming the ideas of these thinkers. Nazi dogma, partly articulated by Hitler in Mein Kampf, was elaborated by the fanatical Alfred Rosenberg. Vague and mystical, it was not a system of well-defined principles but rather a glorification of prejudice and myth with elements of nihilism. Its mainstays were the doctrines of racial inequality and of adherence to the leader, or Führer; its constant theme was nationalist expansion.

According to Nazi dogma, races could be scientifically classified as superior and inferior. The highest racial type was the Nordic, or Germanic, type of the “Aryan” race, while blacks and Jews were at the bottom of the racial ladder. Intermarriage contributed to the deterioration of the superior race, and the Jews, knowing this, had furthered prostitution and seduction to defile the Germans. Consequently only small islands of the pure remained, but it was their destiny to govern their inferiors and, through scientific breeding, to extend the “master race” and limit inferior races.

and we still have the common man and those who try to stand for us in the public eyes -such as the mother teresa's and the pope john paul's, and
and those humane human beings that believe it is not wrong to allow the poor, the homeless, the disabled to be nutured and shown respect until death comes...
I believe there are many of these- but they will not usually be famous, until after death, like Anne Frank...

so for me the world is no greater now -no less intelligent, no kinder than it ever was because of the human element...

yet those who know their is a greater meaning to life and a greater Spirit than our own - that I call God, those that try to help humanity as we all know we are full of weaknesses - so we should try to love God and others as we try to love ourselves...

there is nothing new under the sun -

I have spent a good deal of time lately reading old posts to reacquaint myself with people I knew before I dropped out a few years ago, to acquaint myself with new people who have come since I left and to see the direction the forum is taking these days. Happily many posters are familiar to me and equally happily there are many new and interesting writers here.

This thread really caught my eye especially in light of the current climate and I wonder how the answers will compare today.

I am personally southern born and bred. That is only significant in that we are taught from birth to smile, regardless if there is anything amusing happening. “Smile honey, someone will think your cat died” or something near could always be heard coming from cars dropping off school children. Southerners instruct their children in manners with the enthusiasm of religious zealots and failure to observe protocols of behavior are met with an air of disappointment usually reserved for being booted out of school.

I lived in Europe for a year many moons ago and found the level of public civility to fall substantially below that of my southern standards. The custom of queuing was unheard of and smiling at a stranger was met with obvious suspicion.

All of this may very well sound like a throw back to a bygone era, and I will not argue, but it did provide a framework within which parties of differing passions and beliefs could discuss their disagreements without rancor or insults. A framework where persuasion could replace argument and compromise was a possibility.

I’m thinking we have lost something when there are no longer any rules of behavior.

I'm guessing you didn't live in the UK where we queue for literally everything.

Based on the murder rates per 100,000 people:

New York - six murders on average per 100,000 people
New Orleans - 64
St. Louis - 47
Los Angeles - 10

London - 2 murders per 100,000 people
Tokyo - 1

The US looks like a scarey place to live and this reopens the old debate over the right to own firearms !!

In the UK, things are getting worse, (or I'm getting older), statistically things appear to be getting better in the US but all things are relative.

Keep your heads down folks,
Neil.

Now that we are so often on the lookout for explosives, people have been distracted from shooting each other.

On the other hand, while stumbling down the street in NYC with peg and she was wearing a shoe boot- what a pair - my suitcase kept falling off the one it was strapped to. A man walking in the opposite direction stopped, fixed them, never looked at me or said a word and kept going.

I know that I cry very easily when kindness and compassion are extended. I need to cry more often. I don't think people are expressing anything. They are rather emotionless.

paula

Pkell, it could not have been Denmark you lived in......
Europe is not one thing, it has never been one thing. Attitudes to politeness differ greatly. And the same is already true in the US.

Aftermath and BEMM,

In trying not to disparage one group I have ended up disparaging all, my appologizes. I really did not mean it as a criticism but more an illustration of the different standards of politeness. It is my understanding that in Japan it is considered rude to show your teeth when smiling. Imagine what they would think of we southerners showing however many teeth available at every opportunity.

My only point was, without any rules, where we are all free to do and say whatever we wish, it becomes very difficult for opposing opinions to be heard over the fray. It also makes it difficult for us to learn from each other.

Sorry if I offended.

{Politeness should never be confused with weakness}

and no offense taken.

Neil.

Dear Pkell, no offense taken here either, none at all. My tendency to be pedantic got the better of me............ again.

No way,there is more evil around than ever before in 'the American experiment" . Why do I say that.....dead kids....for starters.

p