大象传媒

Sarah Joseph, editor of a Muslim Lifestyle magazine听

There is one thing that I鈥檓 still a stickler for, and as I get older, find myself even more cranky about. I CANNOT abide BAD manners. That rude person who barges past you, that person who tuts snarlingly at you on the tube because you hit her shoulder even though you apologised, and the person who sucks their teeth at you when you are the cause of a minor misdemeanour like entering the lift a second late. I cannot abide these things, and now I am here--in middle age--I tell people that. My husband worries that one day, said rude person is going to do more than suck their teeth at me, but may actually attempt to remove mine, nevertheless....

But manners for me are more than just avoiding bad ones, it is also about promoting good ones 鈥� like not being on your phone when paying at the checkout till or at the dinner table, about holding a door open for someone, and even offering to carry a pram up a flight of stairs for a mother who is struggling up said stair case.

It is also 鈥� and wait for this one 鈥� about understanding the norms of the country you live in 鈥� including their religion.

Now I鈥檓 a Muslim, but perhaps because I used to be a Christian, or perhaps because I studied Religion at university, or maybe just because I care enough, I know that the 鈥済ood鈥� in Good Friday doesn鈥檛 mean great, happy, wonderful, but rather it鈥檚 a day of mourning representing the death of Jesus Christ. Which is why I feel听听a supermarket advert suggesting that their beer was going to make Good Friday 鈥渁 whole lot better鈥�, is rather inappropriate, although they later apologised.听 It鈥檚 also why I am with my Christian friends when they get offended by the fact that chocolate eggs鈥攔epresenting the renewal that Easter Sunday brings鈥攁re being sold for Easter with the word 鈥淓aster鈥� removed.听

People of all faiths and none may all be sharing this Bank Holiday, but it is surely important to at least recognise and appreciate the origins of the holiday that we all partake of. We may not be religious ourselves, we may belong to a different religion entirely, but understanding another鈥檚 faith and recognising that it is important to them, seems good manners to me; and for me, the commercialisation of someone鈥檚 deeply held beliefs doesn鈥檛.

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