Each of us can choose to be civil
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Behave yourself. It’s absolutely amazing to me the number of examples of poor personal conduct taking place in this country right now.
We are entitled to our opinions, yes. But we’re not entitled to shout, cuss, confront or act inappropriately toward people with whom we disagree.
A Member of Congress recently urged her constituents to “push back” against Trump administration Cabinet members seen in a public places.
Yes, I wish the President would tone things down a bit. But people who cite his comments as the reason for their actions are only making excuses for their poor behavior.
No matter what, you and I can do the right thing. No matter our age, background, education, or circumstances, we can conduct ourselves in a responsible way.
Even when we encounter a difficult situation – one with which we totally disagree – we can act and work in an intelligent manner to make things better.
Too many of us are doing just the opposite, acting in very foolish and impolite ways. Stupid is as stupid does, Forrest Gump explained.
Forrest was right. It takes a smart person to manage himself or herself and do the right thing, regardless of what others around them are saying or doing.
Having a strong conviction about something is not an excuse for loud or improper behavior. No matter the topic or what others are doing, we can conduct ourselves in a responsible way.
Most of us don’t realize that we are slowly being socialized to behave badly. Social media is training us by providing an almost unlimited number of examples of bad behavior.
It has become way too easy to make a derogatory comment or give an illworded critique of someone in today’s overly connected world.
We experience so many of these negative expressions in posts, tweets, texts, and emails, possibly creating some of them ourselves, that we are being conditioned to believe that acting in a crude or unbecoming way is “normal.”
Moving away from such negativity and back in a better direction depends on GOOD CHOICES. We can choose to keep our mouths shut, take our fingers off the keyboard, and think about things before we say or do something we shouldn’t.
Negative behavior hurts us far more than the other guy. We think we can somehow lift ourselves up by tearing someone else down. That’s just the opposite of how life really works.
You and I will never accomplish anything worthwhile on the back of another person. We can only do so by living our life in good and helpful ways.
Most of us are very capable of conducting ourselves in a proper way (behaving, that is) if we just take the time to consider our actions before we take them and give ourselves the opportunity to make a better choice.
So, before you fly off the handle, before you shout out at that other person, before you text that hurtful message, stop and think for a minute.
Consider whether your personal conduct will make things better, or make them worse. Give yourself the opportunity to make a better choice – to behave yourself.
Michael Nelson is director and editor of Good Choices Good Life, Inc. in Memphis.
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