thoughts on the news of the day: manners

hmmm…..

            There’s an article on the internet today that tells the story of a mother-in-law who complains about her future daughter-in law bad manners.  Not just to her friends – but as it turns out to the whole planet.  She didn’t start out with that in mind.  She wrote a simple email to her son’s intended which she titled “Your lack of manners”.  The email was meant for the bride-to-be only. But it went viral when the recipient of the email decided that the only way to get even with the monster-in-law was to forward the email to all of her friends…who sent it to their friends .. who sent it to their friends … you get the idea.

            The author of the email was actually quite eloquent in her criticism; she wrote things like:

When you are a guest in another's house, you do not declare what you will and will not eat - unless you are positively allergic to something.

You do not remark that you do not have enough food.

You do not start before everyone else.

You do not take additional helpings without being invited to by your host.

When a guest in another's house, you do not lie in bed until late morning in households that rise early - you fall in line with house norms.

            These are all good points, but the immediate thought that comes to mind is how brash and unmannerly the comments themselves were.  Seems to me that the mother-in-law and her new daughter both suffer from the same malady: bad manners.

            And with that, only one question remains: Can this marriage be saved?

            hmmm…..