By the Lips, From the Heart

Gratitude as a posture of the heart

Call me a pearl-clutcher, but the necessity of good manners is a hill I’d die on. The normalization of vulgarity is what’s killing our ability to be gentle and graceful.

Swearing has become an appendage of humor; few people send follow-up thanks after dinners; crumbs on café tables are commonly left for the next customer to deal with. Like an itchy sweater we’ve grown accustomed to, bad manners have corrupted good morals: We’ve become desensitized to the irritations of our daily interactions—even if it makes us uncomfortable or hurt.

This tweet was inspired by the prevalence of ‘ghosting’. Often, whether in job hunting or within the dating scene, we’d rather vanish from an unwanted situation than face the discomfort of an awkward or shameful confrontation. While some of us avoid tough conversations completely, others choose to ‘get it over with’ with a complete lack of sensitivity.

The term NPC (non-playing character) captures this mindset, and the ease of crafting social media persona…