Consider a garden of civility, respect

“April showers bring May flowers” was a favorite saying of my mother’s as she planted her vegetable and flower gardens each year. She had a green thumb — something I did not inherit. I don’t garden.

However, there are a lot of gardeners who love to dig in the dirt to see what it yields. But it was a TV viewer who shared with me a different kind of garden that she felt needed to be planted in each of our minds to grow and yield improved relationships. This garden produced food for thought. Different versions of this garden are on the internet with no attribution as to who originally produced this garden of ideas.

In this garden, the peas (P’s) planted stood for patience, politeness, preparation and perseverance. Mother used to say patience is a virtue, but there seems to be little patience anymore, especially on the expressway. Aggressive driving translates to tailgating, abruptly changing lanes, speeding, honking of horns and saluting other drivers with one finger. Sometimes the impatience involves a gun and ends in tragedy.

That impatience even finds its way into lines at fast-food restaurants. Recently, while waiting in line at a fast-food restaurant drive-thru, a man three cars behind me started blowing his horn because the line wasn’t moving fast enough. Then he started shouting, “Some people have to get to work.” Then he pulled out of the line at a high rate of speed, yelling as he drove by the rest of us.

Politeness is passé for many. I’m always surprised when someone holds an open door for me, when someone greets me with a smile and says “Please” and “Thank you,” or “How can I help you?” or even “Excuse me.” I make sure I respond in kind and often have said to a young person who is polite how much their mannerly conduct means to me.

Another item planted in our new type of garden is squash. We should squash gossip, crit