Courtesy and gratitude are in demand

Believe it or not, within recent days and weeks, we have seen a great improvement in a display of courtesy. This comes at a time when we are in great need of a major display of courtesy and gratitude. Let us look in the direction of courtesy and gratitude.
We are sure that gratitude and courtesy are still in style today and much in demand. Some people have not faced up to the reality of these two important elements in our society. We are safe in saying that these elements are products of the home teaching.
It is so sad when you see people who have been favored with some type of gift, awarded by some well-thinking individual, and the recipient of the gift will not respond with a plain "thank you." We are sure that more people would give more of their blessings to others if only the others would come up and say, "thank you."
When we say "thank you" to someone, we should put our full personality and meaning to it, and say it from the heart. There are times when the children walk away from their parents, and they never take time to just say, "thank you mom and dad."
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. When there is sincere gratitude, when we have courtesy and all the other virtues, everything else will fall in place.
Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy. You must understand, happiness comes when we stop complaining about the troubles and problems we have, and start giving thanks for all the troubles and problems that we do not have.
To show gratitude and courtesy, we must have love in our hearts. Love is not conceited or contemptuous. It is not uptight, but it is for real. It is getting harder and harder to find a courteous person who is not trying to sell you something. It is also striking to note that when you are courteous, the recipient of the treatment becomes suspicious.
Let us do a compliment here before we go any further. We must give some credit to those that wait on us in the cafe. Believe me, there are some wonderful and courteous people who are employed by many of the eating places, we say to them, "thank you."
The management has done outstanding things in training these workers. Now, let us pause a minute to point out that some of the customers who you have coming into these places should not even be served when they come in with their nasty attitudes. Some of them are just outright mean.
We also see many wonderful things that are happening with people throughout the community. We see total respect for each other, and there is always somebody arriving on the scene willing to help the seniors, and even the young people are glad to show favors to those who are in need of help. Somebody has been teaching good stuff.
It is so nasty when you see some gentlemen who are still not displaying the good traits where the women are concerned. To see a man step up and refuse to open the doors for women is nasty. Some good home training should be present at all times. You don't just show it to the people who you know, but to strangers, also.
It is nice to know that there are so many people who have done so much for so many, and we just brush them aside after the work is over. We practice the cleaning tissue system in our midst. After we use the tissue, we throw it away. We are doing the same thing with people. After we have worked them to death, we throw them away and forget about them.
The things that we enjoy in our communities, churches, schools and also in the homes are mostly those things that other people worked so hard for in order that we might have them for our comfort. Those who arrived on the scene late, enjoy the blessings without paying tribute or thanks to those who made them possible. We act like the hogs in the pen. A hog will eat all day long and never look up to see from whence comes his food, of who is providing it for him.
To those who are working all the time in helping people, let us pause at this time to say, "Thank you." Please do not stop doing your good deeds and helping with things that will improve the quality of life in community, church, and home.
We all know that it is hard sometimes in doing things and you get the feeling that nobody really appreciates what you are doing, but you must have patience with those who are not courteous enough to say, "thank you."
Patience strengthens the spirit, sweetens the temper, reduces anger, subdues pride and bridles the tongue. Our relations with each other will zoom to a higher plane when we have pure and sincere gratitude and courtesy. Life will take on a much sweeter tone when we see these things working in the best manner.
Let us return to the ways of old, and be outstanding people because of the fact that we show gratitude and courtesy. These things have always been in style, and always will be. It is just a matter of us being in style, and follow the teaching of Jesus Christ. He did say, "Be ye kind to each other."