Four score and several moons ago the Rules of Etiquette set forth on this day, a new code conceived in sincerity and dedicated to the proposition that all ill mannered citizens shall be dutifully frowned upon and improperly served their red wine in a white wine glass.
Now we are engaged in a great crusade. As card-carrying members of a self appointed gracious civilization, our mission is to smother fellow Homosapiens with courtesy and kindness until they are weakended into submission.
Still there?............Which is your handshake?
We go forward ever on the high road with unabashed poise to rescue the rude, the clueless and especially the guy who talks with a mouthful of food.
Seriously, in days of old when men hunted for the winter meat, the practice of Manners may have seemed pointless, with the bare hand tearing of food and such. But today, Etiquette is essential to interact with business associates, family and friends.
There is a ritual of the human experience to which we must all surrender: " To obey the Laws of the Land so we don't kill each other, and to follow the Rules of Etiquette, so we don't drive each other CRAZY!" Judith Martin (Miss Manners)