Just Be Nice

If you want niceness to prevail in the world around you… how about asking “Please Be Nice” instead of dictating in imposing tones that the reader of your car’s bumper sticker (me, in this case) “Just Be Nice.” I will confess to my something-beyond-normal attention to the “music” or the tone, or spirit of what is said. And, yes, I can perseverate on details that could easily be passed over. But… by golly… there is an undercurrent of unkindness and insensitivity that is growing into a major theme in our world. And I am becoming more and more convinced that it all is born in innocuous messages delivered by just the sort of message that is sub-consciously transmitted by the aforementioned bumper sticker. A bumper sticker that, no doubt, gave the driver of the car a feeling of having done a “good thing”… a feeling that can, and often does, give that person a sense of “Better than thou” that cancels any possibility of something nice coming from the exercise.

The phrase that is begun with the word “Just” is a phrase that is saying “All else aside… JUST_____”, or “I do not really care what your feelings, predispositions, or opinions are, JUST____.” The employment of that four-letter word is an indicator of the presence of an intolerance; a disrespect; a disregard for the personhood of the target of the comment to follow. “Just shut up and sit down” would be a typical statement utilizing the precedent “Just.” And added to the messages declared by such verbiage is the accompanying presence of an arrogant domination, flaunted in the assumption that a role of being in charge, and in a place of dictating to another, that the phrase carries.

Yes, My Dear Reader, I sense all of that from the passing of some stranger in a vehicle that that person has made the public display mechanism for a message chosen to represent them to the world. And the person driving that car is telling me “I don’t care what you think, who you are, or what you are dealing with right now (including any unhappiness that you may have with my driving and how it has affected you)… I am telling you to behave in a manner that I deem to be nice because I feel that I have that right and you are obliged to accept my command.”

Would it not be more in keeping with the supposed intent of that message to humble oneself, and assume a posture of niceness to be defined as:
1. Pleasing and agreeable in nature
2. Exhibiting courtesy and politeness
3. Showing or requiring sensitive discernment

But in assuming such a posture, one would have to step down from their pedestal of dictation, their sense of overbearing self-worth or self-importance, or their assumption of superiority. It is not easy to be arrogant when asking “Please.” But, Dear Friend, I submit that there can be a new and fresh undercurrent of kind consideration created in our world… that world that you and I touch… if we will but do the simple thing that begins with a submissive, accepting, respectful, and honoring posture toward those whose lives intersect with ours.

All of this to bring to the surface of your consideration our world’s crying need for a lovingly caring and serving spirit from each of us to the other. And all sparked by a bumper sticker that was, no doubt, placed there with the best of intentions… though without the added moment of involvement in considering its implications. I would only ask that we all consider our opportunities to “Please Be Nice.” (Political statements included.)