Doing The Right Thing Because It's The Right Thing

How many times do you find yourself observing mankind's behavior and then thinking, "Seriously, has everybody gotten lazy?" For me that happens at least a few times a week. There's the usual scenarios: the people who speed up on your left side when the flashing arrows to merge to the right have been seen for more than a block. Is their time somehow more precious than yours? The people who take clothing into the fitting rooms only to discard their unwanted leftovers in a pile on the floor waiting for someone else to magically pick up after them? That seems to happen A LOT at JCPenneys and Kohls. I feel sorry for their employees having to constantly clean up the mess. The people who will throw their cigarette butts and trash out their car windows as if the rest of us don't mind living in their littered world.

OK, so now you're probably thinking that I'm on my soapbox and beginning a well-executed rant. Perhaps you would be right. We are ALL busy, but that doesn't give any of us the right to be lazy or disrespectful to those around us. I constantly find myself straightening a pile of clothes on a display table or putting that falling shirt correctly back onto it's hangar. Why? I'm not sure. I've never worked in clothing retail so I don't have old habits. Perhaps I'm OCD. Perhaps I just don't mind taking the extra second or two to make things nicer for the next person that comes along.

However, I do smile when I see a person actually slow down and open a door for someone else or see a person offer to get something off a high shelf. In reality it doesn't take any longer to be respectful and do something nice than it does to be lazy and have disregard for others.

In the words of Clint Eastwood, "Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that's real power."  

So ... my suggestion for you today is to take the time to observe; the behavior of those around you as well as your own. Don't like what you see? Make a change. Now that can be empowering!