What is common courtesy? Many reading this article will have a ready answer. However, I implore you to consider this question: If you know what common courtesy is, do you exercise it, or do you ignore its existence? Have simple gestures conveying courtesy and compassion for our fellow man become obsolete, similar to the fate of floppy disks?
Take some time to consider the last time you held open a door for the person behind you and, in return, that person thanked you. Or, how about the last instance in which you smiled at a random stranger crossing your path and simply said “Hello,” or wished him or her a nice day?
Recently, I entered the UC through the entrance closest to the library and an individual accidentally bumped into me, knocking free the object clasped in her hand as a result. Naturally, I apologized for the incident. Genuinely concerned for her well-being, I asked if she was OK. This individual picked up her dropped item, remained silent, and merely showed her back to me, as if to negate entirely my apology and dismiss my very existence. Dumbfounded, I stood there at the “scene of the crime,” and simply stared at the fleeing “victim.” My mind failed to effectively process what had just occurred.
It doesn’t take much effort to realize that simple gestures of common courtesy, such as a simple expression of thanks, are gradually withering away and being replaced with rude and coarse behavior, coupled with vanity and utter apathy toward others. In a world lacking empathy for the plight of others, would not such warm gestures bring light into an already engulfing darkness?
Strolling around campus, you need not look far to notice a lack of common courtesy amongst the student body and faculty. To be fair, I’m not assuming that every single person in the NSU community is lacking in this regard. There are always exceptions. But, the fact is that this void is still too big to ignore.
Regardless of ethnicity, race, religion, and/or gender, we are all human beings. Equality, being a value constantly expressed as important in our society, is, by nature, founded in the right we reserve to be respected as individuals. What better way to acknowledge this fundamental element of our humanity than to exercise simple gestures, such as engaging in friendly conversation with the peers we encounter throughout the day, holding the door for a stranger, merely smiling when we meet another’s gaze or simply thanking another for their efforts. These acts remind us of our humanity and the plight we all share.
A smile is worth more than a thousand words, especially if our smile is genuine and its source is pure empathy. The next time you find yourself wandering the campus, find it within yourself to go out of your way for others in the simplest of respects. Who knows? That person could be experiencing the worst day of his or her life and your random act of kindness could impart a sense of joy equaling, or even exceeding, the grandness of a simple child’s innocent laughter and joy.
John Wanamaker, a late 19th and early 20th century pioneer of marketing and advertising, once said “courtesy is the one coin you can never have too much of or be stingy with.” So, share the wealth of common courtesy amongst yourselves, NSU. The value of doing so far outweighs doing otherwise.
