"Please"

So I wasn't sure what to write about, so I thought I would ask my youngest daughter to say any word and then I would write about that. Hey, God gives me the most interesting things to write about when I thought I had nothing. So I asked her and she said "Please". I think she came up with that word because she had just asked me to make her some hot chocolate and forgot to say the magic word. That wasn't exactly what I was going for but hey I will run with it.

I don't know if you have noticed but "Please", "Thank you" and "Your welcome" are seldom used . They should be three of the most used words in our vocabulary and yet we rarely remember to use them. Myself being one of them. I try to remember because I have two young girls and I would like them to use them but when it isn't being modelled anywhere how hard it is to use them. I know at the pre-school my girls attended it was highly used. I am not sure what is required at their public school. It is a good school, it has it's share of bullies, I know I have thought of home schooling several times as my oldest daughter comes home crying from something that was done or said at school. Why is it so hard to say three simple words.

I know I have more respect for someone who uses those words. I worked at Sears in the local mall for about two years and I met so many rude customers. Christmas was the worst for grouchy customers. If buying gifts for your loved ones makes you so grumpy don't buy them anything! But I have to say that it is so much easier dealing with someone who is polite. Even if they are coming in with a complaint. You don't have to yell at me, let's just talk about the problem and find a way to solve it. Yelling it is not going to get it solved any faster or better.

You know, you get what you give most of the time. I could have someone telling me off and I would try hard to keep my calm to deal with whatever the problem was, but sometimes it was so hard. I once had a customer make me cry! Why is that necessary? I was trying to help them but this couple was so rude.

I would often see teens running through the mall causing problems and being disrespective to customers. I know people who won't even shop in that mall because of some of the problems the mall has.

So why has this behaviour become acceptable? What can we do about it? How can we change this negative trend?

Well, I know when I was at the mall and people were being rude, I would go and ask them to take it somewhere else. I let them know their behaviour wasn't appropriate and I would ask them to leave, and I called the mall security if necessary. Also when I have been shopping and people were using bad language I would ask them to stop. At one time using swear words around children was inappropriate. Now I hear parents using it in normal conversation with their children. WHY!

Why do we as a Christian community not stand for what we believe? We often talk in our church about how we can affect our community. Well, why don't we choose to stand for a higher quality of living. If that is the way to say it. Choosing to respect ourselves and those around us. Imagine what our community would look like! Maybe we can start with using "Please", "Thank you" and "Your welcome" in our normal conversations with our family and then try it out in public and then eventually everywhere we go! It has to start somewhere, who's with me on this?

Well, I am off to Walmart to use my manners and set a good example to my daughter. I'll let you know how it goes. I just know I am going to be tested on this one!