. . . MANNERS.

Manners. It’s either you have it or you don’t. Good manners, that is.

When we were younger, our teachers rated our Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC) with the letters A to F. But what we did not know was that it was our parents they were judging. Of course, who else would be responsible for our proper upbringing? That’s why I always pride myself in comparing my children to other children, say, in a restaurant. While other kids are all over the place, mine are seated beside me enjoying their food. Being rowdy in a public place is unacceptable -- at least on my terms.

It’s the upbringing that really counts. In the Philippines, breeding is the accepted term for upbringing. (Although the word “breeding” has an entirely different definition.) You can be wearing the latest collection off the runway of a really popular international designer but when you’re poorly-bred, oh well, you might as well have dressed in rags. If you are in appropriate behavior, you could be wearing an old shirt and faded jeans and you’d still pass off as impeccably stylish. You could have the best dermatologist to beat the aging process and make your face as smooth as a baby’s but when you start talking sh*t to the point of oral diarrhea, you might as well be eating those Obagi creams and what-nots so that you could be beautiful inside, too, and not just out.

When you think shouting your answers to a question will make your point clearer, then you’re dead-wrong. It just makes your lack of manners more evident. Shouting will not let people hear you better. Shouting makes me block your voice from my register. And you proudly declare that you answer that way to everybody? Sheesh! How embarrassing. For me. To be associated with such kind.