I’ve realized something that might be standing between me and happiness. I have always believed that you should treat others the way you want them to treat you. But, it doesn’t work that way. People will treat you the way they want to treat you, no matter how nice or mean you are to them. If I drop my expectations for other people’s behaviour, I won’t be disappointed or surprised by anything that anyone does.
My problem
by Kevin Thom | Feb 28, 2004 | 3 comments
It is safest to expect the worst from other people – human beings, in general I think, are horrible people. But my brother used to always respond to the ‘treat others as you would like to be treated’ argument with “he treated me this way first, i’m just treating back!” I think the point is, though, you become a hypocrit if don’t treat others the way you wish you were treated.
Besides, if you are nice to everyone, you will make the world a little better. No matter how grumpy someone is to you, if you say ‘have a nice day’ to them when you leave, you’ll have brightened their day just a little bit, and maybe they’ll be less grumpy for the next person.
I dunno, I find everyone just a little easier to deal with if I’m nice and polite with them – because certainly if you’re rude and nasty with someone, they’ll just be rude and nasty with you.
I think this comes back to being betrayed by nine or miss that special one.
It’s a very depressing journal entry. but hey, who said life’s supposed to be fun anyways…
Yes, people will treat you however they see fit. At times a person can be nice or can be rude … sometimes it depends on their current mood. But in general, I tend to believe that a mood can only heighten or lessen the TRUE personality.
For me, I try to treat every person with respect and cheerfulness, regardless of my mood. Why should I treat someone else like crap just because I’m having a bad day? Is that fair to them? I liken it to this … If my sister hates pancakes, and my mother refuses to ever make them, why should I not get to experience them simply because of my sister? I’m referring to younger children who can’t make their own pancakes of course 😉 But, I feel that cheerfulness is the safest way to behave in public or with friends. I don’t think it’s fair for me to treat others any other way … and if they treat me like crap, I can always just leave.