Thursday, August 12, 2010

Be Nice!

Be Nice! Two simple words we hear often when we are young. I find myself using them with my children even now, and we are definitely past the playground age.

Nice is often thought of as such a boring word, but think about it. In the dictionary, its definition is “requiring precision or tact; pleasing or pleasant; attractive; kind.”

Pleasant and kind are two adjectives that are hard to find in today’s world. We don’t see many pleasant politicians or kind entertainers. And tact? Forget it! Turn on the television and you see the opposite of nice – rude, mean, inappropriate.

An athlete cheats on his wife; a politician interrupts a proceedings; a protester screams an obscenity – this has become the norm on TV. And nothing seems to be done to these people. What are we teaching our children?

When I was young (pull out the violins) we were taught to respect our elders; what comes around goes around; there are consequences to our actions.

In today’s reality-obsessed world, anything goes.

Be nice – I would like to bring that phrase back. It’s simple. It’s straightforward. And it tells people just what we want them to do. Join me?