Laurie Wilhelm offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print. Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum. ----------- PUBLICATION GUIDELINES - You have permission to publish this article for free providing the "About the Author" box is included in its entirety. - Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity. - Do not use this article in violation of the US CAN-SPAM Act. If sent by email, this article must be delivered to opt-in subscribers only. - If you publish this article in a format that supports linking, please ensure that all URLs and email addresses are active links. - Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to [email protected] - Article Marketer (www.ArticleMarketer.com) has distributed this article on behalf of the author. Article Marketer does not own this article, please respect the author's copyright and publication guidelines. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this article. ----------- Article Title: Does Daily Life Cause Us to be Rude? Author: Laurie Wilhelm Category: Personal Development, Relationships Word Count: 710 Keywords: rudeness, civility, rudeness in society, people skills, social skills, reasons for rudeness, rude Author's Email Address: [email protected] Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com ------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------
Do you interact with rude people? Do you think our society is getting ruder? Rudeness covers a lot of territory. It can be talking on your cell phone at a restaurant, interrupting someone, ignoring a colleague in the parking lot, poor table manners or neglecting to say the basic polite words "please" and "thank you." Why is there rudeness in our society? There may be several contributing factors: Stress Stress is probably one of the biggest contributors to rudeness. There is so much going on in our lives and we're often so pressed for time that we fail to notice many of our interactions: we're under pressure to get to work in the morning, get the job done, get home to fix dinner, pick up the dry cleaning, the groceries, and take the dog to the vet. With all that we have to do we may sometimes forget the little courtesies of everyday life like saying "good morning" to the server who makes our cappuccino or noticing when we bump into someone's table in a restaurant as we rush out the door to our next appointment. Impatience Our impatience may be another cause of societal rudeness. Many people tend not to be good at waiting. We want service and we want it now. If we have to wait in line for too long, we feel justified in being rude to our server. We may even show our impatience at work. Many of us have heard rude and sarcastic remarks said by a boss to his subordinates. For example, one supervisor told his assistant to bring him some documents "right now." Unfortunately, there were some minor problems tracking them down and instead of his asking his assistant what was the difficulty, he sarcastically said, "I need those files NOW, not tomorrow." Anonymity In other cases, there's the element of anonymity. When we think we won't see the other person again - or if we won't see the person at all - we may take liberties with our words and tone because it's unlikely that we'll suffer consequences. This often happens online when someone leaves nasty comments on blogs, forums or in emails. Or while we're driving and someone cuts us off - we may yell a few choice words or give them the finger. We'd probably be less likely to do these if we knew the other person and vice versa. Being anonymous allows us to do and say rude things that we otherwise wouldn't. What about the value of the individual? Maybe we're rude because we don't really value other people. We don't know most of the people we pass by throughout the day so we don't have any emotional attachment to them and perhaps it's our sense of detachment that causes us to neglect seeing and appreciating the importance and value of others. Everyone is somebody to someone. Maybe we just need to treat everyone as somebody? Alternatively, maybe we don't value ourselves enough. We often undermine our own worth and assume that we don't really matter in the big picture. We don't realize that our actions and words can have a significant impact on someone's life. When we're rude to a clerk, do we actually realize that we may have ruined her day? Or that our interaction with her could have been one in a string of other people who also didn't understand how much they contribute to making her job miserable (or pleasurable)? How often do we consider that the way in which we interact with others can make or break their day? Perhaps the best way to rid ourselves of rudeness is to focus less on ourselves and more on those around us. When we stop justifying our rudeness on our stress levels, our impatience, or our anonymity and realize that we're constantly contributing to somebody's day with every interaction, maybe then we will value ourselves and others more. We can be polite, courteous, and thoughtful because we're worth it and so are they. When we accept personal responsibility to make a positive difference wherever we go and in whatever we do, we begin to realize that being rude is a choice. The more attention and care we choose show to others, the greater the chance our society will become a better and kinder one. Laurie Wilhelm manages the Express Yourself to Success website. Achieve success faster and easier by getting along well with others using good interpersonal and communication skills. Sign up today for our free eNewsletter, One Minute to Express, by going to http://www.expressyourselftosuccess.com. ------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
