Polly's P's and Q's

There are times when one would like to hang the whole human race, and finish the farce. Mark Twain


When I was a child I loved reading Enid Blyton. I’ve been trying to remember how one particular story goes and I’m failing miserably. The story I refer to is “Polly’s P’s and Q’s” and its basically about a naughty and rude little girl who refuses to use please and thank-you. The moral of the story is easy to guess – Polly learns her lesson and becomes a polite child.

Where am I going with this?

This is the kind of story that children, teenagers and even adults should be given to read. Lessons on how to be polite are vitally important for everyone to be socially aware and genrally accepted.

Reading is gentle learning if its not forced on a person and it is subversive enough that you’re learning without knowing it.

Where has this thought process come from?

The Caboolture train, every Monday to Friday afternoon during school term.
Walking along Adelaide St.
Doing the groceries at Coles.
Dealing with people at work.
Driving on any public access street.

It’s important to realise I’m not complaining overly much about the lack of social niceties and manners. At some point you come to realise the Agatha Christie world is non-existent. Words like excuse me, I’m sorry, thankyou etc are being consigned to a by-gone era. Unfortunately, this appears to be something I need to get used to.