You're not special

I firmly believe that there would be less hostility, less violence, and less sociopathy if people learned to not take themselves so seriously and not consider themselves entitled to anything they don’t offer in return. Do unto others, you know?

We let our egos control our thoughts and emotions. We won’t let anyone offend us. If someone's from another country or speaks another language, we feel obliged to demand they speak English. Anyone who cuts in front of us in line will feel our wrath. 

We shoot…over anything. It seems everybody is carrying a gun these days, and they're willing to use it in defense of their perceived right to always be right.

Some of this may be due to overcrowding, some of it may be due to the availability of weapons or an inability to control our tempers. There's nothing worse than an armed, adult child having a tantrum.

Whatever excuse is used, the reality is that we are failing to take responsibility. We say, "They made me do this", or "I couldn't help myself". We hand over control of our lives to others. We choose not to master our thoughts and emotions.

If we don't change course we will certainly destroy our society. Civility is being pushed aside by those who think they should be the center of the universe.

News flash: You aren't.

Nobody is.

We may think we're the center of our universe, but the reality is that nobody is at the center of the universe, no one person is any better or worse than any other.

We're all human beings, members of a single species. We aren't the longest-lived animal, the dinosaurs existed for centuries longer than we have. We aren't the most powerful animal, we aren't the most numerous animal, and we aren't even the only animal that speaks or uses tools.

There's one way we outdo every other creature on Earth. We alone have the ability to completely destroy life on this planet. We alone have the power to make the Earth resemble Mars.

I can't offer a way to avoid that. I fear human nature may lead us in that direction and it may well be too late to change course.

But in the meantime, we can take charge of our own lives. We can improve our society by bringing back civility and politeness. We can quit taking ourselves so seriously.

How to start? Laugh at yourself at least once every day.