ADVICE
I am a middle child and we are typically peacemakers. So with no more qualification
than that I offer this advice on how to get along with those around you.
Don't sweat the little things. Just for once let it die. Forgive and forget. Heck,
forgive and take each other out of pizza. Don't go to sleep on your anger. Don't
go to sleep unsure even. Don't go to sleep without brushing your teeth, kissing your
babies no matter how old. Greet each other with a smile. If that doesn't work greet each
other with a rubber chicken.
Tell knock, knock jokes. Have fun, play games. Wrestle. Watch wrestling together.
Remember life is like baseball, you win some, you lose some, some get rained out,
but you have to suit up for them all. Remember life is like hockey, fast, cold and
if you're lucky you get through it with all your teeth. Play fair. It's not how you get knocked
down that matters. It's how you get back up. Pain is forgotten, insult lingers. Nothing
is ever accomplished by a reasonable man.
Need one another. Crave one another. Don't pretend you can do it alone. Sing the song,
"People who need people are the luckiest people in the world." Good fences do not
make good neighbors. Good fences just cost alot of money. Good fences just look
like they don't have splinters. Only use your cell phone to tell people where to
meet you. Face one another. Walk a mile in another man's shoes. Then try walking
it without any at all.
Don't always take things the wrong way. It's better to be stupid and happy than smart
and sad. The Barney Fifes of the world die smiling, the Kurt Cobain's don't. A chip
on the shoulder rarely matches anything from Old Navy or the Gap. Quit thinking people are always talking about you, to them, you're not that important. Remember God is
always caring about you, to him, you are. Stop being paranoid cause no matter what
happens, in the end, even a stranger will give you a quarter.
Quit blaming others. President Clinton didn't ruin the ozone, Al Gore didn't invent
traffic and Marilyn Manson can't possibly be focused enough to have caused glare,
acid rain, tooth decay, foot odor, e coli, AND the the talking furby. There's no
one to be blamed for Jerry Springer. Remember.. WE are the people our parents warned us about.
Take responsibility for making your life the great promise it can be. Then do the
same for others. A man who carries a cat by the tail learns a lesson he can learn
no other way.
Quit blaming yourself. If humans were perfect there would be no people to need help;
but no heroes either. Our faults makes us brothers and sisters. Our mistakes make
us fathers and mothers. Our shortcomings bring us to God. Let yourself off the
hook, give yourself a break. Remember improvement only comes from the bottom. Nobody with
4 aces asks for a new deal.
Simply put, treat each other well. Treat yourself... well. The more you run over a
dead cat, the flatter it gets, there are no winners in life, just survivors. When
you get over the hill you pick up speed. One good turn.... gets most of the blanket.
When it comes to effort to get along, to treat each other well. Try. Try hard. Risk. Risk
much. Faith is rewarded. And remember, The less you bet.. the more you lose... when you win.
Billy Murphy - 4/28/99