All I'm askin' is for a little respect

I know, it's been a long time since I posted. We all know this, and now we're over it. Moving on.

I'm going to borrow a phrase from one of my favourite shows: "You know what really grinds my gears?" Well, while there are, in fact, many things that grind my gears, one in particular comes to mind:

People who are so miserable in their own lives that they feel the need to make everyone around them miserable.

You can get a lot further in life with respect, and you can only earn that if you treat people respectfully.

The Golden Rule essentially states, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." And you know, that is incredibly good advice, no matter what.

If you treat people like crap, you really should NOT be surprised when you, in turn, are treated like crap. JT is right: "What goes around, goes around, goes around, comes all the way back around." It's the second "goes around" that really hits home with me.

So all I'm saying is, with this long weekend approaching and sort of unofficially launching the new season of summer (let's face it, we didn't have a spring), look at things differently.

Change in season, change in attitude. Treat others as you would like to be treated.

Pick a flower for someone, just to brighten their day (but don't steal it from anywhere, because that's kinda the reverse of what I'm saying here).

Babysit your friends' kid for an afternoon or evening, just to give them a chance to kick back and relax.

And most importantly, smile at people, whether you know them or not. If you smile at five people you pass on the street, there's no doubt that at least one of them is going to think you're either crazy or are trying to steal something (again, I must stress, please don't steal flowers). But the remaining four people will probably really appreciate the kind gesture. And not only will it make someone else's day better, YOU will feel better for doing it.

Because let's face it: if you feel like crap, you aren't going to care if other people feel good. But it takes very little effort to just give a smile to a person, instead of unkind words.

So, gentle readers, I ask you to just step back for a second and think about how you behave toward the people you interact with every day: your family, friends, co-workers and strangers. Think about how you treat them, and make sure you are respectful.

Because if you ain't got no re-spect, take yo' broke-ass home.