A little thanks can go a long way

Last month, Elianto sponsored the makeup for the ICA Fair's Variety Show fashion show. My cousin Abi, who manages the brand, helped supervise the student makeup artists backstage. The following week, she told me her long-standing negative impression of ICAns had changed because she had been pleasantly surprised by the models' manners. All of them (save one) had properly and sincerely thanked her after patiently and uncomplainingly sitting through makeup.

Then last night, through the generosity of Mr. Robin Tong (my student Jo's die-hard Atenean dad), Yang and I had the privilege of attending the Team Ateneo Awards Night, where the Blue Eagles and Blue Eaglets received their championship rings. Yang finally snagged her long-coveted photo op with Chris Tiu, and she also got photo ops with some other Eagles. What we both observed afterward was that although all the players had gamely posed with Yang, only 2 had been gracious and polite enough to actually thank US instead of just letting us thank them.

I think very few young people nowadays appreciate how a simple "thank you" can speak volumes about a person's character and breeding. In a time where courtesy is constantly cast aside for convenience, it's refreshing to see good manners in the unlikeliest of individuals, including supposedly spoiled teenage girls from an exclusive high school and basketball stars with supposedly bloated egos. It would be nice to encounter more of their kind.