I always liked Rodney King’s question. It’s as simple as the answer should be: yes. It’s also a simple lead into a simple post . . . about manners, kindness, respect.
“Can we all get along” comes to mind whenever something disturbing flashes on the screen. But it also popped into my head when something trifling transpired recently.
We bloggers regularly receive spam comments. Par for the course. Most are innocuous, a few are annoying, and the odd one can be outright rude or nasty. I got one the other day that read something like this (I’m sorry I trashed it, to be honest, because I’d like to have featured it):
I thought I’d check out your site for some informative posts but found them of no value-add and boring. What a waste of my time.
A watered-down version, but you get the idea. Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion. I didn’t really let it bother me . . . well, kind of . . . maybe a little. It did prompt me to consider how ill-mannered or impolite—and hurtful—people can be. Everyone sports different levels of sensitivity and self-worth, and a comment like that could prove depressing, if not devastating, to someone.
Does being rude or hateful provide some strange thrill? Stoke the ego? Fuel a need to be spiteful because it’s been a bad day, week, life? Offer constructive criticism, not destructive. Or, even better, as the maxim goes, if you have nothing good to say, don’t say it.
Sure, we all have bad days and there are times we experience a need to be vengeful/vindictive because we feel we’ve been wronged. When there is a pressing need to right that wrong, do it the right way, in a positive way: be encouraging. And if you feel you’re lacking in the positivity department these days, tuck into an article, course, or vid for a recap. There are countless ones to be found.
We should never forget about maintaining good manners, providing kindness, and displaying respect but, particularly during these trying (worrying) times, maybe we should make an extra effort. Kindness goes so much farther than callousness.
Let’s all [endeavor to] get along. Life’s short—show a little love.
Perhaps Al and Annie express it best . . .
The Writer's Grab-Bag 