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# St. Patricks Day isn’t the only national holiday today
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/st-patricks-day-isnt-the-only-national-holiday-today/
- Published: 2004-03-17T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:02:09.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Events, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Give someone a little common courtesy, please*

Lay off the horn and turn that cell phone ringer off — today is “National Common Courtesy Day.”

That means no cutting in line for your morning coffee and no interrupting co-workers mid-sentence. More importantly, it means showing a little respect.

Manners and etiquette aficionados said courtesy is on the slide in this modern world, where technology and efficiency seem to have replaced quality and decency.

The idea for “Common Courtesy Day” came from an all too familiar scene for commuters everywhere. Lefiest Galimore, the president and CEO of a nonprofit organization that promotes reading for poor children in Ann Arbor, Mich., thought up the holiday three years ago after he was cut off in his car and narrowly avoided a serious traffic accident.

“To me, it was something that I figured was done by someone who just did-n’t understand what simple courtesy meant,” Galimore said on Tuesday. “Why is it that folks cannot display common courtesy to each other on a regular basis?... We’re so preoccupied with everything else in our lives.”

Galimore registered his idea for the holiday with Chase’s Calendar of Events, a catalog with 12,000 listings of special days, weeks and months, as well as holidays, historical anniversaries, fairs and festivals. Chase’s, which didn’t charge Galimore to register the holiday, has been around since 1957 and is frequently used by journalists, marketers and public relations workers.

Lydia Ramsey, author of “Manners that Sell,” said “Common Courtesy Day” should serve as a reminder for people to watch their manners everywhere from the boardroom to the bedroom. She said exhibiting common courtesy does more than earn the person a “good guy” or “good gal” reputation — it helps people succeed.

Ramsey urged everyone to make a difference today by refilling the copier when it runs out of paper and holding the elevator door open for that extra person. It’s also a prime opportunity for people to brush up on their cell phone and laptop etiquette and check their road rage, she said.

But for Galimore, the holiday has more humble aspirations. He said he hopes local school children will talk about what it feels like to be treated rudely and what it’s like to be treated with respect. He added that he intends to lobby local politicians for statewide support, hoping to make a name for the holiday on the third Wednesday in March.

“The idea is to encourage schools to do an activity around it,” Galimore said. “To get kids to talk about it... think about it.”

Galimore is working on a book and urged readers to send him a few sentences about an experience they had where someone went out of their way to be courteous. His e-mail is lefiest@fami-lylearninginstitute.org.

A simple gesture can go a very long way, Galimore added.

“He may make that person’s day, you know what I mean?” he said. “Or it may avoid a very serious accident.”

> “He may make that person’s day, you know what I mean? Or it may avoid a very serious accident.” — — LEFIEST GALIMORE Founder, ‘Common Courtesy Day’

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 17, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/031704.pdf?ref=smdp.com)