Etiquette is the portal to equity. Good manners – deportment, as Virginia’s Wise County school system called it – meant that the children of garment manufacturers, coal miners, lawyers, doctors, welders and professors were to commune on a playing field leveled not by financial position but by the ability to understand one another and to find ways to connect. When we read the advice given to young ladies in Jane Austen’s day, then, we might leap to dismiss it. Instead, we should consider stripping away our prejudices and rejuvenating its essence, extending the guidance to all, not just women. Etiquette enables curiosity, which calls us to open our minds and hearts. Those who stifle curiosity are into judgment – not justice, or progress, or art, or even investment.
