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Respecting Silly Rules Builds Bridges in Relationships "43k" 640x480 | "61k" 800x600 |
Why silly? Why not just say something about respecting rules whether they're silly or not? Because most of us think we're very respectful of others rules and most of us are mostly right. We tend to forget to respect the rules of others when they seem silly to us. I was brought up to believe I "must" respect other peoples sensible rules and I "should" even respect people's silly rules. Trouble is, it's our "should" rules we break.
A friend in my distant past used to have a rule that people take off their shoes before entering her home. Her carpet was an old stained shag. So the rule seemed silly to me and I was always forgetting to take my shoes off. I forgot till the day she started crying because even her friends wouldn't respect the rules of her home.
I know another woman who lost her job because she broke a rule that seemed silly to her. The rule was absolutely no cussing in front of the kids she worked with. The kids she worked with were serious criminals who happened to be underage. They had all heard a lot worse than anything she might say. But she lost her job just the same. Silly or not, it was a rule of her employment.
Think about it. Many of the problems people have with others in their work, their schools, their homes.... revolve around breaking rules that seem silly to them. And what's another definition for a silly rule? Any rule that isn't one of "MY" rules. If it was a smart rule, I'd have it already. Right? Right.
So here's a new, perhaps "silly" rule to consider: In order to diminish problems in the future, I'll make it a habit to respect the silly rules of others. It doesn't insure folks will always respect my silly rules, but it certainly improves the odds.
"The mind, once stretched by an empowering idea,
can never fully shrink to its original dimensions."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, paraphrased
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