Politeness - where are you?

A few days ago I had my first Spanish lesson. My teacher tried to explain us that you always had to be very polite when you spoke to others in Spanish. She said: “Even though we Danes never speak that polite, not even to strangers.” Then it hit me - we don’t. Why can that be? Have all the politeness suddenly left our cold little country and went to places like Spain? Well, no it hasn’t. I got prove off that it’s still here. But the funny thing is that it now exists in the tongue of children and not grownups. I was working at the local supermarket the other day, sitting at the floor, placing some bottles with beer on the lowest shelve. A 5-year old kid and his mom walked by me, discussing if he should get some yogurt for kinder garden the next day. He stoped right beside me and asked: “Do you have yogurt here? You know, the ones in small cups.” We were at the same height, so I looked right into his very serious face and answered: “If you go to the right and then straight ahead you should find them.” He almost bowed for me and said: “Thank you!” That might not be the best example but that little kid has been one of the most polite customers I’ve ever helped. I think it’s a shame that the politeness is almost gone in Denmark. I’m pretty sure the only times I’ve been really polite was the time I was in the bus and asked an old lady if she wanted my seat. So what I’m trying to say is that it’s a shame that we don’t show so much respect anymore. Because when you’re being polite you show that you have respect to another person. I’m not saying we should get long forgotten words back in the Danish language, or the English for that matter, but I still think we could learn something from the Spanish people. Being polite isn’t old-fashioned and sometimes I wonder what the world would be like if we still showed respect like we did once, not many years ago.