With courtesy

When participating to a discussion or being involved in any kind of interaction, one is supposed to know and endorse the basic code of conduct: to be respectful and polite in any circumstances. That is what everyone expects! More: what everyone deems to deserve. Quarrel and violence are still potential threats at stake, but the process that make the order of interaction possible is precisely to prevent them. Hence, the cooperation of participants is a strong mean to regulate the frailness of the social order. Every offense against others, every impairment to their differences constitutes a breakdown that calls for a reparation.
Yet, we know that civility rules are not the same according to situations, that we can not mobilize them automatically regardless of particular circumstances of our action. In other words, rules are never implemented, they are negociated and adjusted case by case. Sometimes the boundary is subtle between what is possible to do and what is not, and excesses come more rapidly than expected : some people, especially the young ones, plump them down the bench seats of the train without caring about other persons that have to stay up during rush hours. According to the transportation operator, civility rules are broken. It is the role of this sign to recall for the proper existing rule of conduct: “one leaves its on place to those who really need to seat down!” But the courtesy does not only consist here in an certain attitude. It goes beyond gestures and discourses. The word courtesy is also embodied in a specific objet: precisely the one that is at the height of the rule to be respected.