Unconditional Love

 When you realize that there isn't anything you can do to change other people, it is easier to love them.

I've been thinking about this lately, when I had an epiphany of sorts.  I want to love others more, especially my family, whom I have a very bad habit of thinking my way is the only way to do things. I'm not going to go into much detail here, and this doesn't apply to guiding children into honest and moral ideals.  But, it certainly does apply to over-age children and other family members about whom I am thinking that they live their lives differently.

(This is a very hard subject to discuss, mostly because I don't feel I have the words to do it justice.  So, I may just ramble along here and see what I come up with.)

It, also doesn't mean that I am going to enjoy being around characteristics and activities that I don't think are right, it just means I'm not going to think about them.  I want to try to separate them from the soul inside that needs loved. Love them first, and make sure my own life is displaying the characteristics and spirit that I believe is the most important part of life.

It boils down to how I am going to handle my stress, my worry, my attitude, my joy, my relationships with other people.  It means slowing down and taking time to think about people, .life, connections.  It means being willing to do more for others, and yes, less time for myself.  Kindness done to others, makes them a better person, Kindness to ourselves helps us be kinder to others.

I hope I can hang on to this elusive idea, remembering it everyday.

Take the Swearing Out of It

I have a very nice bunch of friends that I keep up with on facebook, and a few teenagers, too.  What is annoying me today is the amount of swearing that appears on other people's status's.  Some is borrowed when they publish sites that are of interest and some, mostly in the case of the teens, just blatant anger and laziness.  I know that the English language is one of the hardest to learn, but when you've grown up with it, it shouldn't be too difficult to find other words to replace the swear words.I suppose it is mostly the young people who think they are being clever for using words their parents (most parents) don't like.  The same words that THEIR parent's thought they were being clever for using when they were teens. I know that teens like to be rebellious, but in this day of employers and colleges scoping out facebook pages, it is never a good idea to have incriminating information on those pages.

It is ridiculous, aren't there ANY standards out there anymore!  Since when it is fun and interesting to pepper one's speech with the words your grandmother would wash out of your mouth with soap.  I say grandmother's, because my generation is becoming the grandmother's now, and I see the standards of my generation slipping away, down the toilet. However, bad language becomes a habit, and habits become character.  I had a name for people like this when I was younger, I called it "second class". First class people don't use foul language, they don't run down their neighbors, they do build up their friends.  They just DON'T TALK TRASH, about anybody or anything.  I don't call it anything any more, because I am out of the judging people stage. I do, however, try to stay away from people that spend a lot of time swearing, and doing other things that I don't care to be around for the sake of my own mental health.  It isn't clever, it is ugly and it sure doesn't enhance the impression anyone is trying to make, on facebook or off of it.

I think I need to do a little more editing of my friends list.