Behavior

So I think about our behavior as human beings in this society that we've created. Behavior, as I see it, is instinct which is then refined by religion, culture, experience, age, tradition, the way we were raised, and pop culture; which I guess could be considered a sub-category of culture but I tend to use pop-culture as my guide of "How Not to Behave," but I digress.

I got to thinking about this today when I was thinking about judging people. I was raised Catholic and was constantly told, in that environment, to not judge people. Judging is bad and there is only one judge for us all upon our death. We have all heard countless stories about judging someone based on their appearance and then later repenting upon finding out that despite their wearing rags, they have a fortune. Or treating a stranger poorly until it is revealed that he or she is some high-profile celebrity or big shot, at which point we change our behavior towards him or her, suddenly showing him or her more respect, wanting more attention or even apologizing for our "normal" behavior to him or her, claiming "I had no idea it was you!" That is bogus. I firmly believe that we can judge people based on how they treat us. I almost want to say based on how they treat others but that might be a stretch because we don't know what they are going through with other people to cause them to behave that way.

Example. If I meet somebody for the first time and they are rude to me and show no interest in having a conversation with me despite being a friend of a friend, I can judge that they are an unfriendly person, or I can be more optimistic and conclude that they are not having a good day, or that I have caught them at a bad moment. I try not to judge people on their clothes, hairstyle, job, ethnicity or education. (However, all of these things can result in great conversation topics.) I think we should treat all people with a basic respect that can then grow or shrink based on the interaction we have with them. Take for example, manners. I like being polite because I think it's a part of the refinement of our behavior that distinguishes us and it makes life easier at no additional cost to us, except maybe a smile or a kind word. Plus, weren't we all told in kindergarten to treat others the way we wanted to be treated and I like for people to be polite to me so I am going to be polite to them. Furthermore, I have found that the amount of goodness in the world is abundant and if you are just good to others, it will be reciprocated to you in the form of say a free dessert at a restaurant or a job offer or just about anything you may need in your life that other people have and can help you with.

I'm going to keep this short but my moral is to just be good to others. It makes you feel good and you would be surprised by the connections you may make or what you have in common with others. Also, we all have bad days and a little compassion and understanding could make someone's bad day not so bad.

:)