Words of Wisdom

This poor blog. I've been sitting here over the last few weeks just overwhelmed with words to describe view of politics and society. Just simply overwhelmed. The rants I've started writing and just left in the "Draft" stage here at Blogger are numerous. I'm mostly self-censoring which I know isn't exactly a good thing.

It came to me today in an email. Something to share that's positive. Our home lives have gotten pretty routine as of late. One big piece of news that I haven't shared is my poker writings have wider audience now, Minnesota Poker Magazine is now highlighting a new blogger, me!

So, what was this thing that came to me in an email today that I so tangently skipped past for a little shameless self promotion?

My kid's school got a new principal this year. A hard transition for the older kids because he's different and they are blaming him for all the new ills of the world, but my little one thinks he's cool. She's in 1st grade...she hadn't really gotten all that used to the last principal...I know, I know, I'm rambling...

So, this new principal has been working really hard to get the kids involved with concepts of personal responsibility and character. Gawd, I love this guy (and he's a huge Twins fan...I think I'm in love). Each day, a different student reads the days announcements over the PA system. So reminds me of my youth. That's pretty cool, but it gets better (from the parent point of view)...each day they also read the day's "Words of Wisdom".

I have no idea who writes these or where they come from, I should probably ask, but what a great idea for some blog posts! Share them! Here's the sample from today:

How many times have you heard this?

“Keep your shoes off the couch.”
“Wipe your feet before you come in.”
“Pick up those clothes from the floor.”

So, what’s up with all of that? What’s up is that your parents or caregivers are trying to teach you about respect. They want to teach you to respect all the hard work they had to do to buy the couch and to buy the clothes, and they want you to show some respect for all the cleaning and washing they’ve done so you can live in a clean home and wear clean clothes.

So, next time you hear someone say, “Keep your shoes off the couch,” remember that someone loves you enough to teach you about respect.

Make it a great day . . . or not. The choice is yours.

This lesson could be learned by so many of the grown-ups I know. Here at work, there are so many examples of people just not respecting other in the little things they do. Leaving lights and projectors on in the conference rooms because "someone else will turn them off." That just shows a complete lack of respect for "someone else." Turn them off yourself. You are a big person. Leaving messes of any kind is just rude.

I also just love the last line, "Make it a great day...or not. The choice is yours." Far too often, we fail to make our own choices and let others around them make them for us. The government can't make your life better, but you can. Your boss can't make your day/job better, but you can. When the world hands you lemons, make the best damn lemonade you can.

I'm gonna try to share these on a semi-regular basis. I really like reading them each day and since this is my blog, I'm gonna share them with you because this is my blog, damn it.

Now, go have a great day and rock this place!