Why are people rude?

A friend of mine asked me what makes people rude? In a recent Readers Digest survey of people who were polite they made what might be seen as an obvious discovery. When they asked people why they were polite nearly all of those surveyed said, "It's how my parents raised me." It's true! We model how our kids will behave. Rude people had rude parents. Looking from a counselling perspective I might add that some people are rude because they are stressed, depressed, addicted, or simply confused. When we view our world as one of conflict everything we experience is a battle and if we are in a battle someone has to lose. So how do you deal with rude people? BE KIND. Kindness in the face of rudeness empowers you and takes power away from those who are rude. Try it! Say please and thankyou, open the door for someone, buy coffee for the next person in line and teach politeness to the people in your life! Attitudes are contagious! Make yours worth catching!