Manners Maketh the Man

Transcript

This is an old expression that goes back to Middle English, maybe it goes back before that and its actually a phrase that has been used on many family crests because people identify with this so much they want to treat it as something so firm and so real they remember it for generations.

Place it up there with the finest things they could think of to identify their noble lineage.

That is how important people treated this phrase “Manners maketh the man” or woman, or god, or goddess.

Its interesting to note this phrase we have a certain interpretation in modern English make we normally say to form or create. In this case there is another interpretation in Middle English maketh can actually mean complete.

So manners complete a person. We might so many things, riches or a beautiful wife or home or a great big car but once you have manners, that is when you are complete.

Of course a lot of people know and mention this, when you meet a fellow and you see that he treats you nicely but he doesn’t act kindly toward a taxi driver or waiter. That is when you know that is not actually a good person.

Because of course it’s a measure of someones character, how we treat someone when they are in a position that is subordinate to them. You can get away with a lot of things being less than polite to someone in that position.

We have the wonderful opportunity to affirm through our actions, through our words that regardless of the position of a person, they are worthy of our respect.

We notice their personhood perhaps more deeply their divinity as we say Namaste. The finales, the divinity in me bows to the divinity in you. That is what we say when we are kind to others.

We might fail sometimes, that why there exists a word sorry. That’s why we can apologize from the heart and make that commitment to change and be better. We have such high standards for ourselves and we will be kind to ourselves to.

Now we pray, please be better. Let me be kinder, let me show others with my heart and my words congruently that I know that they are special, that they have a heart just like mine.

Amen.