Response: PLEASE!

A response to “Please Read This Story, Thank You” by Linton Weeks

Central argument: The way people expressed their manners in the community today doesn’t convey the traditional means.

            From the reading of “Please Read This Story, Thank You” by Linton Weeks, people in the adult word changed the way they express their manners which could change the whole, meaning of the traditional ones. I agree with the author. People now days do not say ‘Thank You’ or even ‘Please’ but instead, ‘yah’ and ‘give me’ is used. People tend not to use the traditional words mainly because no one does it anymore, no one cares enough about it, and it feels too formal and distant.   

One of the author’s points in the article was that as we grow older we tend not to say words like ‘thank you’, you’re welcome, or even ‘please’ anymore. If you actually think about it, this statement seems to be true. Do you say ‘thank you’, ‘you’re welcome’, or ‘please’ every time you are expected to? I know I don’t. Sometimes, I have to be reminded of my mother’s law of politeness and that these words exist. Imagine a situation where you are at a café with your friends, would be saying, “Could you please pass the sugar?” or “pass me the sugar?”    

            Think back of the time when you were just a small kid. Have anyone ever told you, “where’s the magic word?” The magic word here means words like, ‘thank you and please.’ You can never get away without saying please or thank you, otherwise the adult will look at you as the rude and arrogant kid. This will never happen to you, when you grow up. It seems like it is acceptable for an adult to not say those words that indicate respect.  This just show how rude we become when we grow older and no one will really care about it.

            Words that indicate respectful meanings are disappearing in the adult word and no one seems to care or even notice that. Every conversation when someone says words like ‘please or thank you,’ they will automatically feels very distance from the rest of the group even if that was not the speaker’s intention. This is another reason why people seem to not say thank you anymore. It feels too formal.

            As a result of this change in actions of the adults, the respects for one another will slowly go into a decline. This is definitely not a good thing. People needs to give each other’s respect otherwise nothing will ever get done because of the ego inside each one. Just by changing the words use to express respect and politeness can result in drastic problems of ego and selflessness within each human beings.