When did we become a society that is so self centered and mean??  When I was growing up my Mom taught me to be nice to everyone, but not let people walk all over me and use me.  It just seems as I get older the more people aggravate me, and I know that I am not always right because I am sure I aggravate people myself but why is this world turned into what can you do for me??

I am a middle class Mom who had a child late in life, and I am really not that old but for most of my friends they have teenagers getting ready to drive where I am just trying to get my son through second grade.  As a middle class family we do OK, we live in a nice neighborhood, drive decent cars, have nice things and are able to go on vacation without going bankrupt which is where I like to be....but and here it is I feel like I know more mean, self-centered people around me then I do true, honest friends and those few I do have I cherish with all my heart.  It just seems like the people around me are always angling to stab people in the back or just be plain mean. 

People don't say please and thank you much anymore, don't hold doors for people, let people out of parking lots or just be nice and smile.  It's all about getting to the next place the fastest (I am sure there is a prize for that) or so wrapped around their phones like it's keeping them alive if they put it in their pocket or look away for a moment.  The phones have gotten out of control and I am one of them I have my phone next to me at all times and I swear if I go more than a few minutes without looking at it, it might walk away.....sometimes I think at night after Nico is sleeping did I even put my phone down tonight?  Talk about Mommy guilt......and I say I am going to do better, but like the rest of America there it is right next me.

I find now in schools we are adapting to those who are mean and saying it's OK......if you make fun of another kid I am sure you were just kidding, and then when the kids threatens another kid because he has been made fun of everyday, it wasn't my kids fault it was his.  Can you imagine having a terrible home life and then coming to school to be made fun of every single day or told you can't play with the "cool" kids.  I wonder why the "cool" kids think they are so cool or how they go their "cool" status.....who makes the rules??  If one kid would stand up to the "cool" kid and say nope I don't want to play with you, how would they feel?  Prolly as low as the kid they have been picking on, but kids are kids and I get that but it's become more than that because they don't wear the right clothes or their parents can't afford the right shoes...I truly wish all schools would wear uniforms everyone wearing the exact same thing down to the shoes.  That would solve a ton of problems....but that's another post for another day.

I think a smile or come play with me to a kid who is mean, would make all the difference...I always tell Nico you don't have to be their best friend but if you don't show it bothers you and walk away they will eventually get the hint you are not weak and leave you alone.  I am very fortunate everyone loves my son, he is the sweetest, kindest kid you will meet not one mean bone in his body.  I am not saying that because he is my kid, but it's the honest truth.  When he was 5 and older boys were picking on him, I said we don't play with mean kids, his response but I want to play with the mean kids....he really didn't know what mean meant, and honestly I don't know today if he does.  He is all about having fun and being nice.  How this happened I don't know..he surely didn't get it from me....I am not a nice person, but I taught my child to be nice and hopefully his kindness someday will rub off on someone.

We all need to step back and take a look at ourselves and realize what a small act of kindness will do to a persons day, and to those who are mean, stupid and backstabbing...I have no use for you and I will let you talk and complain but the smile on my face and the no response means I truly have no use for you in my life.  All you are doing is making children who are products of their parents.  I have never met a mean kid in my life that has nice, wonderful parents....they learn what they are taught.  I know I am by no means the nicest person in the world, but I do know that I don't allow my son to see my worst and I know that one day he'll realize that being nice gets you more places than being mean, and he will maybe change the world.

I am truly blessed with family and friends who truly love me and my family for who we are, having only a handful of true, honest friends is more important to me than having a ton of non-true friends.  This isn't a contest who at the end of your life has the most friends, it's who was the kindest, true person they can be.  That's how I life my life, and I don't put up with people who are ignorant and self-centered.

Stop for a moment and see what kind of person you are and remember a little bit of kindness can go a long way.

Until our next "kindness" adventure......