There Are Rules: BE NICE AND MORE

I don't know if I have written about the rules 100 times or not but it does seem that the subject comes up very often. In the past I have written about rules for napping, eating and driving. Today I am going to talk about the rules that get us from here to there with the least amount of words.

You see, most people don't listen and when they do, they don't really understand what we are saying. No, we are not talking in an outer galaxy dialect. Everyone knows we are saying "Blah, blah, blah and so on." The normal answer we get is "What?" or "Huh?"

So, two different times during the last two days I have found people getting to the point with very few words. No "blah, blah, blah." at all. I get it. I have done it for years.

One of my favorite blogger wrote a post yesterday called Unisex Restroom, A cranky opinion for CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY The blogger goes by the name of Cranky Old Man. (He makes me laugh which is fun which is part of being happy!) In the post he talked about Unisex Bathrooms and how he felt about sharing a bathroom with someone that was only dressed as a man. He had an opinion...he usually does.

Then he shared a few rules that would make it okay for a woman dressed as a man to use the stall next to him. Early on the list was "No looking!". That made me laugh. I suppose that applied to the men too.

But the one I loved was "NO BEING CREEPY". Wow talk about getting to the point. It was classic because he didn't need to say anymore.

I watched an episode of DCI Banks on PBS last night. Very near the end of the show Banks was talking to the teenage child of a co-worker that was in jail for breaking and entering. The boy was acting out because he was unhappy being a teenager. We all know how that age feels. But it was what Banks said to the boy that hit me between the eyes.

There was no big long explanation of what the rules were or what would happen if he broke them. He simply said, "OK here's the deal...BEHAVE YOURSELF. Alright?" No more. Oh, and the boy got a place and some time to think about it. It only seemed natural.

I can't tell you how many times I have told children and grandchildren and students that were misbehaving, "BE NICE!" It always stopped them in their tracks. It was so easy to understand. No threats, no shouting just two simple words. If they needed to think about it, I gave them the time and place to do that. No more!

So if we take our three rules and put them in a list, our day would have some good guidelines don't you think?

1. No being creepy.
2. Behave yourself.
3. Be nice.

I like it a lot. Do you have a rule to add to the list?

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