THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: When did good manners become old-fashioned?

Anyone who knows me will tell you how much I detest going to supermarkets.

Every time I go I see something that gets me a little annoyed and just recently as I was walking towards the entrance of one nameless store, I passed some people arguing about the use of disabled parking bays.

Apparently a perfectly able bodied man had used the space as he claimed he was just popping in for a few minutes. They were still arguing when I came out! It got me thinking as to why we actually need disabled parking bays at all?

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I tend to park as far from the entrance of the supermarket as I can. There are usually more spaces there because people seem less inclined to walk any further than they have too.

That,of course, is why we have designated spaces for the disabled. It’s because the able bodied are either too lazy or thoughtless to leave the spaces nearer the door for those who need them.

Now, before you start writing your letters of complaint telling me you are neither lazy nor thoughtless, pose yourself this question.

If there were no designated spaces where would you park?

It’s the same on buses and trains with designated seats required for the elderly, the infirm or the less-abled because people are not thoughtful enough to offer a seat. We have to be reminded to be polite, decent and kind.

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Of course I’m exaggerating to make a point, I know there are still people in the world who are thoughtful and display what are known as ‘old fashioned values, manners and respect’.

But then this question popped into my head…When did we start thinking that manners and respect were old fashioned?

DREW BAXTER, humanist minister.