Proper people

My father in law is the only person I've ever heard say it. And he says it very rarely so all royalties and copyright acknowledgement to Vince.
When he says it it's always with reverence. He uses it with some excitement like a gold prospector that has just found a precious litte nugget after months of kneeling in water sifting through wet sand.
He wants more of them.
He tolerates the rest of us but his most valued people are 'Proper People'.
It isn't defined by skin colour or religion. It isn't defined by sex or sexual orientation. It isn't defined by riches or poverty, age or size, ability or restriction, culture or country.
All you need to be 'Proper People' is number one - be a human, but the big one , number two - be a sound person.
Vince will have been to somewhere outside of his own familiar stomping ground and he will have needed to catch a break.
A simple example would be a trip to the R.T.A or Social Services and he will have been confronted by a difficult situation or a complicated problem where he needed help.
He'll maybe have been dealing with someone not so helpful , getting nowhere and then another person takes over or steps in and they display kindness and a lack of ego and they use their time and skill to bypass the stress and bring things to a gentle smiling conclusion. 'Proper People'.
Or maybe in an International Airport trying to find his way tired and disoriented and a smiling stranger steps up and sets him straight. 
Never meeting that person again matters nothing as he has found another one.
Or his car needs repairs and every quote is foggy and too expensive but one person talks to him for a while taking the time and comes up with a solution an explanation and some long wished for clarity through the fog.
'Proper People' also ask lovely questions about your family. They also share their own stories and vulnerabilities, stories that help things make sense and settle down any fluster in life.
Stories that make you a part of their family's ongoing big warm real beautiful lives. You're home with 'Proper People'.
They will be solution oriented and be totally comfortable with the use of gentle conversation to bring the most awkward or difficult or painful problems to a smooth conclusion. There are no raised voices or drama or big heads in the ranks of the 'Proper People'.
I've heard him say it maybe twenty times in twenty years and every time I knew that he had dealt with one of the most powerful, precious and most important humans to ever have existed.
So now you know what to do. Good luck. You're in the club. Begin. Reject all other known options of behaviour.
Not for you the way of the Hoon, the path of the Greedy, the road of the Angry, the track of the Lazy, the lane of the Heartless, the route of the Selfish. No you, my friend are on the righteous High Road Of The 'Proper People' and together you will change the human animal one by one.
Oh and keep it on the low down, it's a secret.