Robert Clements
A rude passenger was on the train Bishop Manning of New York was travelling in. This fellow made a great disturbance as he was about to get off, pushing and shoving and accusing others in a most discourteous way. As he finally got his possessions together and started for the exit, the bishop called after him, “Pardon me sir, but you have left something behind!”
“What?” the fellow asked.
“A very bad impression!” the bishop called back.
As I watched Trump exiting the White House, I realized he had done the same thing, but unlike the story of the bishop and his fellow passenger which took place nearly a hundred years ago, and where bad behavior or being discourteous was frowned upon, now nearly half of America found Trump worthy of being president again.
They didn’t even want to rebuke this foul and nasty fellow with an impeachment, despite his vile nature and crass behavior.
But this isn’t just about America. ‘Leaving a bad impression’ is now becoming the thumbmark of leaders the world over. Loud talk, ridicule, swear words, and a bad temper have become the rule of the day.
What brings out this ill-mannered attitude in people?
I do believe, that the less you think of yourself, the less respect you give to others.
“Love your neighbour as yourself!” is an oft repeated religious line, but how much do you love yourself to be able to give that same amount of love back to your neighbour?
Also, the man who shouts and yells all the time, is actually like a little puppy dog, who yelps in fright whenever it sees the shadow of a bigger dog.
The only way to change people who have such behavioral problems is to first understand where it came from. “Come here Donald!”
“Why, you want to bite me?”
“No, I want to tell you that it is not a very cruel world we live in!”
“I don’t believe you!”
“Why?”
“Because I grew up with a strict, stern and near cruel father!”
“Aha!”
And because of that the whole world suffered for four years with offensive tweets, a boorish nature and his attempts at mutiny with an election process that did not go his way.
“My boy!” said a father to his son, “Treat everybody with politeness, even those who may be rude to you, for remember, you show courtesy to others not because they are gentlemen, but because you are a gentleman!”
But truer than this piece of advice, is that if you are indeed a gentleman or a lady, then it will reflect immediately on how you treat others, and will certainly not have someone calling out to you saying, ‘Hey, you’ve left something behind! And it stinks..!”
Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and author. He blogs at www.bobsbanter.com and can be reached at bobsbanter@gmail.com
