Life.

There are some things I wish people would pay more attention to. Naturally, as we get older we believe we become more mature and “knowledgeable”. I’m afraid I have to disagree. We forget things that once came easy to us, we get caught up in complex thought and wrapped in emotion. Since we are in a country that seems …equally divided and tends to bicker a lot, we need to start realizing that both sides are going to fight to the death to prove they are right. When it is possible that neither are, or ever will be. But there is a lesson to be learned and I fear many will not try to make things work and in the end create a bigger mess. Do you remember being little? How small you were and all those unfair rules that applied to your day to day life? Those rules should still apply no matter how small they seem or insignificant to what is going on.

· Don’t point fingers, or in child language don’t be a tattletale. I honestly don’t care who’s fault you think it is, it doesn’t matter. It is done, over with, you need to let go. Don’t point your finger, because you aren’t perfect either. You make mistakes and so can everyone else. Suck it up and deal with it. You don’t need to be useless, there is plenty more productive things to do than complain.

· Be nice. As children we learned that to get along we had to be nice. If little Sally wanted to sit next to you at lunch you smiled and said that it was ok. You and Sally may not become best friends, but at least showing some kindness is better than none. By acting rude you give yourself a bad reputation, be wise and play it nice. You might not like the person, but that doesn’t really matter does it? Unless they have done some sort of catastrophic damage to your life, I suggest you be nice. Be polite.

· Respect others as you wish to be respected. Don’t belittle someone and then expect everyone to love you. We all have our rights, don’t we? I have the right to have an opinion, no one should be able to take that away from me. Respect my opinion, you don’t have to agree with it, but don’t tell me I’m wrong. There isn’t a right or wrong, there is a matter of opinion…in my opinion.

· Clean up after yourself. You make a mess, it is your responsibility to clean it up. For example: You made a fuss to get your way and in doing so several things got ruined. It is your fault that you threw a fit, so you get to repair everything. Don’t look at the other side and say: “Well if they had only…” No. It is your mess, if you made it then it is yours to clean up.

· Learn self control. Don’t just jump out of line and go crazy. Think about your actions before you do them. Don’t act out of selfish impulses.

· This one isn’t actually something you’d see in a set of classroom rules, but it does apply to life. Don’t be a hypocrite. I hate hypocrites, I am one myself and I am ashamed of it. It bothers me when I turn on the TV and I see people blaming another set of people for doing something when they have done it themselves as well. It is annoying. No one cares, get off your high and mighty horse. Don’t pretend that you haven’t made mistakes either.

I think in general, people are and always will be selfish, unkind, jealous, greedy, and unwise. Though, I think we can also be polite, caring, giving, wise, and do things that are for the best. We need to learn to get along. We can’t keep going on pointing fingers and arguing over things that need to be settled and put away. We all have goals that we want to accomplish and some will go great lengths to get there. People will walk over you, belittle you, lie to you, and betray you to get what they want. To work together would bring opportunity and with that a better place to live. We just need to remember what we learned at a young age.