Recently an interaction with a person went very wrong. The initial fault was mine, but the situation got worse because both of us took insult from the other persons’ actions and proceeded to ‘up the ante’.
It is important to be the person that ignores the insult and maintains their manners. For as was said in Shibumi:
...in the long run, the "minor" virtues are the only ones that matter. Politeness is more reliable than the moist virtues of compassion, charity, and sincerity; just as fair play is more important than the abstraction ofjustice. The major virtues tend to disintegrate under the pressures of convenient rationalization. But good form is good form, and it stands immutable in the storm of circumstance.
-- Trevanian: Shibumi
The more I look at that quote however, the less I like it. Because there is a higher calling than just manners, and it is this:
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. --Matthew 7:12
There. That is something to strive for, and while we are at it here is another:
Be the change that you wish to see in the world. --Mahatma Gandhi
You cannot help but feel the strength of these ideas. A final one, for those looking to tie in a bigger picture:
God is love.-- 1 John 4:8
Start from this.
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