Taking Measure of Our Manners...

From this morning's CHICAGO TRIBUNE, the best mannered cities in the United States are:

1) Charleston, South Carolina

2) San Diego, California

3) Seattle, Washington

4) Peoria, Illinois

5) Omaha, Nebraska

6) Quad Cities (Moline and Rock Island IL, Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa)

7) Hollywood, Florida

8) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

9) Houston, Texas

10) Salt Lake City, Utah

First, congratulations to these ten areas that were named "the best mannered" by etiquette expert Marjabelle Young Stewart, who has compiled this list for the last twenty-eight years.

Second, it speaks well of the inhabitants of these areas that "good manners" and good "social skills" are important to the fabric of their societies.

It would do all of us a world of good to improve our manners. Sadly, in the "cyber age" far too many have disintegrating social skills and no earthly idea how to relate to others in an acceptable fashion.

Finally, maybe we do need to become a "bi-lingual" nation after all. And this foreign language is actually quite easy, and it's vocabulary is simple. Here it is:

"Thank You"
"You're Welcome"
"Yes" (sir/ma'am)
"No" (sir/ma'am)
"Please"
"May I?"
"How can I help you?"

And that's a language I wouldn't mind hearing.

All the time.