Kim and Connie are speaking of manners, and boorish behavior, and I can’t but agree, it’s nice to be around well-mannered people.

My parents sent me to the best schools they could afford, and did so because my education was important to them- more important to them than to me, at the time, I just wanted to be out hunting and fishing.

Still. I did learn probably better than average manners, and while it’s not always a guarantee I’ll use them, I at least have some idea what they are.

And because of my interest in human nature, I find that I’m less upset by bad manners than the DuToits. Because I have a fairly simple gauge of what manners are important to me.

I know a half dozen people who wear baseball hats, all the time. They would be amused if you called them “pussies”. Just before they broke your wrist. By shaking your hand. Each and every one of them has substance. Substance is what I care about, over manners.

The “Manners” these people have are, in my mind, impeccable. They treat women with respect. They keep their cocks in their pants. They are all very good at what they do, and they are self effacing about their skills. They don’t have to prove anything to anyone. And they don’t.

They wear hats. Some of them spit in public. Others aren’t always careful about how they smell. More than one wears their hat indoors. IN fact, one of them, a dear old friend, barely takes his hat off to go to bed. And he is the salt of the earth, a man whose boots I am unfit to unlace. Hell, MOST people are unfit to unlace his boots. And he’s a man’s man in every way.

I have had the distinct displeasure to be involved with politicians, more of them than I care to say. And to a man, every one had impeccable manners. Also to a man, scoundrels. In nearly every sense of the word.

So yeah, I like people who are not rude. I prefer to be around people who have decent manners. But mostly, I prefer people of substance. I find that people of substance are rarely if ever intentionally rude (even if they are uncultured), but people who are intentionally impeccably mannered are commonly (but not always) less concerned wiht substance than with style. Fuck style.