FRIDAY June 15th, 2012
Hey everyone, this week’s Fantastic Friday Post is near and dear to my heart. Today, I’m highlighting someone who has a huge influence in my life and who I admire and respect more than words can say. And I don’t mind telling you, I’m in love with her!
Now don’t go running off and telling my wife, because, well, this Fantastic Friday post is about her.
Yesterday, I got an update from “The Boot Camp Blog“. I had no idea she was going to be writing about this topic, but when I read it, I knew this would be the Fantastic Friday post.
Here it is: Be Nice Mission
“Today’s post is not about physical fitness…it’s about mental fitness. It’s about being a decent person. This last week I have had a number of instances where I had to shake my head.
I am shocked how people have changed, it’s actually sad.
Why is it so hard for people to be nice?
What has happened to us? Is it that technology has advanced that we have lost all of our social graces? Is it that families are so busy that they have forgotten to teach their kids about being a good human being? Is it TV?
What has happened??? What caused this societal change???
We now see bullying of kids and adults more and not only in the workplace and playgrounds and in the prison yards on wheels (aka school bus), but also online. I am floored with people in business who are rude to customers or potential customers. It seems that in so many cases people have just stopped caring.
Have we moved so far along that no one remembers if you have nothing nice to say then don’t say it at all? When did it become ok to trash talk, belittle, insult and just out-and-out be rude??
When you experience random acts of kindness or someone being nice, it is almost a shock–and that’s just sad.
Everyone has their own story, their own experiences that shape them into who they are. It is your frame of mind who really says who you are as a human being. We have all met people who have had a hard go and they make the absolute best of what they have while there are those who dwell in the pity party that life has dealt them a bad hand. Then there are those people who are sad/miserable and want others to be just as sad and miserable as they are.
We all love to hear those stories of people who were down and out and pulled themselves out of it. Movies are made and books are written to inspire us to go beyond our circumstances….but it seems that with all of the motivation, inspiration out there that there will always be those people who don’t want to try.
Being nice is a state of mind. You choose how you are going to behave, react, interact.
We all have bad days but I think it speaks to your character on how you react to those bad days and if those bad days lead into bad weeks, bad months, bad years.
I think being nice and being happy go hand in hand. So many people turn a blind eye on why they should be happy but instead they are upset with what they don’t have.
I wrote a blog post about this a while back, the Have’s and the Have Nots.
I learned a great trick from our pal Amy…aka Declan’s mom (boot campers, you know who she is) this is something that is so easy, requires no effort and not only will change your day it very well could change the day of someone around you….ready for it…….just smile. Your entire body changes and so does your mind when you smile, and sometimes being nice is as easy as giving someone a smile.
I am starting a “BE NICE MISSION”
Be THAT person….be the one that everyone says is SO NICE
Share a smile – do it randomly.
Hold a door open for someone. Let someone pass you while driving (and don’t flip them the bird.)
Tell someone something nice…give a compliment or acknowledgement.
Be THAT person that people look to for inspiration when their day isn’t going the way they had planned. Be THAT person that will get others to smile.
BE NICE and let’s get the BE NICE MOVEMENT moving.
I want the Be Nice Mission to be contagious and it starts with you!
(even using the word contagious gives me the willies as a germaphobe)
Your mission, should you accept it, is to go out and:
- Be NICE
- Smile
- Share
Proud to know you sir. Well written and my best to the better half.
Thanks Rob!
Sometimes it’s wiser to remain indifferent or keep to yourself. Just recently I was out at a show and saw a heavier lady crying, I put my arm on her shoulder and asked if she was alright? a few seconds later some guy comes up and threatens to smash my teeth down my throat and that’s his “babies momma” thinking I was somehow making a pass at her. Wow, idiocy and inconsideration are really running rampant.
There is always a risk for stepping up. I would say that what you did speaks volumes for you and what the reaction was speaks volumes for the other person. Unless I was the one who caused the reaction of the person crying, I would be thankful that you took the time to reach out and try to help. BUt, I wouldn’t be touching either though in today’s environment. (Just me)