In our interactions
with other people, courtesy is the practice of politeness and of showing that we
respect them and care about their feelings. However, It sometimes
seems that people forget the basic elements of courtesy: in what they say or
write, they are not treating people with respect, they treat people as if their
feelings simply do not matter. Some people feel that they are entitled to say
awful things about other people, especially online, often about those they do
not even know. (I wrote about this in the blog post “Tweet others as you would
wish to be tweeted”, in January 2018.) This lack of respect for other people
has sadly also become apparent at a national and international level. Politicians
are increasingly critical, rude and dismissive of those in opposing parties or
those who have different opinions from them. There are also examples of
political leaders talking down to other countries, deliberately belittling
their leaders, and treating whole populations as being of no consequence. Land is
thought of as important, but not always the people who live there. If there is
a difference of opinion between countries, there is no longer always polite
disagreement in diplomatic language – on the contrary, the opposing side may be
summarily told that it is wrong! In recent years, we have entered a period in
which the larger and more powerful countries once again think that they have
the right to use their power against other countries and to speak of them in
scornful terms.
This lack of concern for others, lack of respect for others and lack of love
for others is part of why the world is so unhappy. It is diametrically the
opposite of the Bahá’í approach. Bahá’u’lláh wrote, speaking with the voice of
God: “O Children of
Men! Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no
one should exalt himself over the other. Ponder at all times in your hearts how
ye were created.” We know that we are all formed from the same elements and yet
we hear people in the public eye, even people elected to positions of power and
honour, speaking to, or about, other people as if they were nothing. In contrast
to this, Bahá’u’lláh frequently emphasised that we should look upon every other
human as being one of God’s creations – indeed look upon them as if they were a
letter from God: “O Son of Man! Deny not My servant should he ask anything from
thee, for his face is My face; be then abashed before Me.” If they understood
this principle, perhaps all politicians would treat others more respectfully.
In all our dealings with other human beings, Bahá’u’lláh stressed the need for
politeness, for courtesy: “O people of God! I admonish you to
observe courtesy, for above all else it is the prince of virtues. Well is
it with him who is illumined with the light of courtesy and is
attired with the vesture of uprightness. Whoso is endued with courtesy hath
indeed attained a sublime station.” This is an important aim for all of us.
One of the causes of the decline in love and respect for others is the decline
in true religion. Bahá’u’lláh recognised this when He wrote, in the nineteenth
century: “The vitality of men’s belief in God is dying out in every
land; nothing short of His wholesome medicine can ever restore it. The
corrosion of ungodliness is eating into the vitals of human society.” True religion
is a positive force because it teaches us how to behave towards others. An
example of this is the following passage from Bahá’u’lláh:
“Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the
trust of thy neighbour, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face. Be a
treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer of the cry of the
needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge. Be fair in thy judgement, and
guarded in thy speech. Be unjust to no man, and show all meekness to all men.
Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful, a sea for
the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim
of oppression. Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all thine acts. Be a
home for the stranger, a balm to the suffering, a tower of strength for the
fugitive. Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the
erring. Be an ornament to the countenance of truth, a crown to the brow of
fidelity, a pillar of the temple of righteousness, a breath of life to the body
of mankind, an ensign of the hosts of justice, a luminary above the horizon of
virtue, a dew to the soil of the human heart, an ark on the ocean of knowledge,
a sun in the heaven of bounty, a gem on the diadem of wisdom, a shining light
in the firmament of thy generation, a fruit upon the tree of humility.”
If someone truly followed the advice to be, “fair in thy judgement, and guarded
in thy speech”, “unjust to no man, and show[ing] all meekness to all men”, and being
“a fruit upon the tree of humility”, they would be courteous to all. All those
in positions of power and authority should be setting us an example in their
behaviour, and showing everyone courtesy – the prince of virtues.
