Motions & Motivations
You can dress right, talk right, sound right, look right, and seem right, but unless you are right, does it matter? "Putting on" is a way of covering what is really there. At the end of the day, who are you?
Protocol and etiquette are tools to use in our social and professional lives. They help us know how to respect others and present ourselves well. They can help us make friends, get a job, advance in our careers, run for office, make someone else feel appreciated, and overall enrich our lives. These tools can also be nothing more than motions to us--empty movements like many things can become in our lives.
What makes a work of art? Knowing all the science behind brush strokes, complementing colors, and how to capture the essence of something? Yes, that's part of it of course! But do these things make masterpieces? People spend hours looking at works of art. What are they trying to see beyond the obvious? Is it just the technique? No! They want to know about the motivation! What was the artist trying to convey with his technique, colors, and choice of subject? What was he feeling? Where's the passion?
So it is with our actions. We may know the way we should act and dress, but what is our motivation behind the things that we do? What should they be? Our goal when it comes to etiquette shouldn't be surface charm but depth of character. Our actions merely reflect what's going on in the inside. So respect, then, should begin in our thoughts toward ourselves and to others.
"Respect for ourselves guides our morals; Respect for others guides our manners."
-Laurence Sterne
-Abigail
