December 1st marks one year since I launched the Toronto Etiquette Project.
So what has happened since then?
First, some numbers. As of today, the Toronto Etiquette Project website has had almost 23,000 page views, with over 3200 downloads.
The expanded Urban Etiquette Project / Projet D'Étiquette Urbaine, launched in May 2012, has had over 20,000 page views, 1900 English downloads and 200 French downloads.
Since the launch of the bilingual cards, I have also had requests for Spanish and Portugese cards – and even volunteers for the translating! These are currently in the works, and should be coming in the new year. As well, a woman in Baghdad had translated the entire blog and cards into Arabic - amazing!
Additionally, a middle school counsellor in Georgia contacted me about adapting the positive etiquette cards to fit middle school scenarios to encourage kindness, respect and pro-social behaviours at the most critical developmental age:
Every adult in our building was given three cards each, wrote their names on the back and were asked to distribute to students when they saw acts of kindness. Four 8th graders were given three each as well, same instructions.How awesome is that?
And most recently, a Vancouver college student writing a research paper on public transit etiquette requested permission to discuss the etiquette project. I enthusiastically obliged.
What does this all mean? Even though the etiquette project is not in the headlines anymore, people are still engaged and interested in improving public etiquette in their own personalized way, and this is very encouraging. As we head into the hustle and bustle of December, it doesn't hurt to remind everyone to slow down, be courteous, and find little ways to make life better for those around you.
Have a happy and healthy holiday season.
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“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” - Plato
