I feel seen. Back in high school I decided something: I was only going to say “I’m sorry” when I had genuinely hurt or offended somebody (at which point I alter my behavior to counter the offense), and only say “thank you” when I genuinely felt gratitude (which I try to do regularly). Those words are too important to me to be wasted on “just being polite” — actually, *politeness* is too important to waste on “just” being polite; it should have a purpose.
Only drawback is that now I get offended by people assuming I was offended by something I wasn’t offended by — but that is my burden to bear, not theirs.
I feel seen. Back in high school I decided something: I was only going to say “I’m sorry” when I had genuinely hurt or offended somebody (at which point I alter my behavior to counter the offense), and only say “thank you” when I genuinely felt gratitude (which I try to do regularly). Those words are too important to me to be wasted on “just being polite” — actually, *politeness* is too important to waste on “just” being polite; it should have a purpose.
Only drawback is that now I get offended by people assuming I was offended by something I wasn’t offended by — but that is my burden to bear, not theirs.