My last blog entry of 2016.
I was thinking about writing another piece on my pet
peeves (click here for the previous pet peeves article) as a last entry for the
new year. As I sat and thought about it I realized it was so negative and I’m
really working hard to be a more positive, happy person. And then I thought
about ice cream. If you know me at all then you know how I LOVE ice cream. I
also have a philosophy on ice cream which is “Ice Cream makes the world a
better place.” Think about it. You’ve never seen anyone be angry or mad while
they were eating ice cream. It’s impossible. If you sit down to eat ice cream
and you’re angry your anger will be gone after the first bite! Ice cream is the
solution to the world’s problems. Send a boat load of ice cream to ISIS and
voila! No more terrorism! I know, a little simplistic but seriously you just
can’t be angry or mad when eating ice cream. But I digress.
So I thought
about how ice cream makes me happy and I wanted to write about my pet peeves -
remember them? Well I thought I would turn it around a bit and write about my
pet peeves in a positive manner but we’re not going to call them pet peeves.
We’re just going to say here are five things you can do in the new year to make
the world a friendlier, happier place!
1. Open doors. No, not just for yourself but for others.
Take a moment and hold the door for others as they try to enter or exit. It’s
not just a must for me to do for women but everyone can hold the door open for
someone. It only takes a moment or too and then you can be on your way.
2. Use your turn signals. I know sometimes the bulbs
might be burned out or the lens broke or something that prevents your signals
from working but judging from the number of people I’ve had turn right in front
of me or change lanes suddenly I’m thinking it’s more about laziness of the
driver than it is about the lights not working. Oh, I’m guilty too and I’ve
taken it upon myself to work really hard to make sure to use my turn signals at
all times. If you do too then that’s two less people to piss other drivers off.
3. Say “thank you,” “please,” and “you’re welcome” more.
Have you ever gone through a drive-thru and got up to the window and the person
taking your money or handing you your food barely acknowledges you? Well did
you acknowledge them? Take a moment to tell them “thank you” or better yet
before you pull away take an extra couple of heart beats and tell them you
“hope they have a wonderful day.” And if they have a name tag on their uniform
then call them by their name. Trust me when I say someone being nice and
pleasant to them during their brief interaction will put a lift in their spirit
for a moment, and eventually they are more likely to start being nicer to
customers as they go through. If enough of us take the time and give the extra
effort it might become the norm one day and wouldn’t that make your day just a
little better?
4. Elevators. Just as it is polite and respectful to open
doors for others so too it is just simple good manners to stand to the side
when waiting for the elevator doors to open and then remain standing to the
side for a moment to allow anyone getting off to do so unfettered. The same
also goes for getting on an elevator. Stand to the side and let the elderly and
women get on first guys. And hold the elevator door if someone is a little slow
getting on. You’d want the same done for you so take the initiative and
practice good elevator etiquette.
5. WTF! You know what it means. You’ve probably used in a
post or text. But why? I guess somehow we think we are okay writing it because
we’re not actually using the word. But actually we are. When you type those
three letters you know you say the words silently to yourself and when someone
on the receiving end reads it you know they say the words silently in their
mind too. So essentially you are actually saying the word whether you want to
or not. I know foul language is all the rage these days, we can’t seem to get
away from it. But does stopping writing those three letters or even not cussing
at all make the world a better place? Absolutely it does. Think about it for a
moment. When someone is cussing their words are very harsh and impolite. There
is nothing “kind” about a cuss word. So why even use them unless you’re trying
to be a harsh, unfriendly person?
There! Five pet
peeves of mine turned on their ear and into a positive message to help you
think and hopefully change and help to make the world of 2017 a much better
place and time.
Oh, and don’t
forget to eat lots of ice cream too!
No comments:
Post a Comment