When did we ditch niceness?

I’m a little tired of the rudeness that has become endemic in our society, so here’s my latest column for Eastern Daily Press.

It was like I was invisible – just not there at all.

I gripped the door a little tighter, my knuckles whitened – my smile became rictus-like. Yet nobody offered so much as a nod of appreciation. Eventually, after being ignored by at least 20 people, none of whom had made any attempt to stop and let me enter the store, I decided enough was enough. I let the door go and walked away – deciding to try and enter the shop again later, when I’d calmed down.

Now, I’m sure there’s a fair number of you queuing up to label me an overly sensitive snowflake. Fair enough, but I’m serious here. We, as a society, seem to have lost something. We’ve allowed ‘niceness’ to become a negative trait; something to be purged from our systems in case it shows up as weakness. “Show me a nice person and I’ll show you a pushover” is beginning to feel like the pervasive motto. I realised, standing outside that department store, waiting for in vain for my turn to enter, that I really miss niceness.

Can we have it back please?

Chris McGuire, Eastern Daily Press.

For full piece click here.