Manners

 Here's an interesting article I read this morning.

Please don’t rearrange our shoes when we turn up, paramedics in Japan urge

TLDR: It is customary in Japan to remove your shoes when entering a house. It is also customary for the host to rearrange the shoes neatly. Paramedics are having trouble getting their shoes back on while carrying stretchers because the shoes have been tidied up.

This is fascinating! It is so much a part of the culture that emergency workers will stop to remove shoes before giving treatment. And family members will stoop down to move the shoes while their loved ones are having a medical emergency.

I've been trying to think what we do in America that would have the same level of compliance. I'm sort of drawing a blank. The only thing that I can think of is how I always answer "You too!" to someone who tells me to have a great day.

I don't know if this is more an indictment of Japanese culture for being too rigid or American culture for being too lax. Have we become so casual that we don't have any shared cultural norms? Do the positives of this outweigh the negatives?

I definitely think that we should return to a deeper understanding of etiquette. That was actually one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Servant Leader Seminar class. I wrote the original etiquette lessons (the class has evolved a lot since those early days, but I think some of those are still incorporated). It is good to know what is expected in different situations. Not everyone can intuit proper behavior. Do I take my shoes off or leave them on when I enter a friend's house? Do I remove my hat when I am talking to a priest? Which side of the sidewalk should I guy be on when walking with a girl? (It's the outside. Thanks Flight of the Conchords!)

But as a society, we don't know anymore. What's more, we don't care. We used to care. Check this out: Manners and Conduct, in School and Out. You may argue that our society used to be too formal, too rigid. But now there are no rules. It's madness.