I have been crushing on Earl Hickey for quite some time.  If you are unfamiliar with the show, My Name is Earl, here is a quick synopsis.  Earl and his brother, Randy, are bad boys.  They hooked up with bad friends and they did bad things.  Until one day Earl won $100,000 in the lottery and immediately got hit by a car.  While in the hospital, Earl felt he came to understand Karma and that bad things happened to him because of the bad things he did.  So he made a list of all the people he had hurt and he went about making all his wrongs right.

Earl and his crew are not overly educated (mostly for comedic reasons), but they have big hearts.  They fight among themselves, but also take care of their own.  Earl and Randy work very hard to do the right thing.  Earl just wants to be a better person.

I, too, could have such a list from my life.  I have drank too much at times, been loud and obnoxious many times, hurt people’s feelings, made bad decisions that affected other people, and was generally an overall pain in the neck.  I still can be a pain in the neck today but I think that probably never goes away as there is no cure for that.  Once a pain, always a pain.

But today is different.  I want to be like Earl and I want to be a better person.  I do not want to impact other people’s lives negatively.  I do not want to do or say stupid things anymore (unless it is really funny…only kidding).  I want to be able to say I’m sorry when it is appropriate and I want to say thank you all the time. I am finding out that those little bits of manners are severely lacking in our society today.  All you have to do is look around, no matter where you are, and you will see people being rude and selfish.  They will be inconsiderate and will act like they have no manners whatsoever.  This makes me sad.  I lived that life and it is a very sad existence.

The more I help others, the better person I become.  I do not know much about Karma but I do know how I feel inside.  I feel as if everyone just tried to be a little more polite, a little more understanding and a little more tolerant that life would change drastically.  Today, many people feel that their needs and opinions are the only ones that matter and unless you believe what they do, you are wrong.  That kind of thinking is causing such strife in our communities and our world.

Please do not misunderstand me.  I realize that there are some things that are just plain wrong, seriously wrong.  That is not what I am talking about.  I am taking about  very grassroots things such as saying thank you when you someone holds the door for you, or not pushing your way to the front of the line just because you are in a hurry or driving like a maniac because you feel you are more important than the other drivers on the road.  Simple things that could completely change our society.

I lost my manners for a while.  I was a selfish, uncaring, unempathetic person.  I only saw me and how I was wronged by other drivers or the people in the grocery store.  I felt as if they were out to get me for some unknown reason.  I was a martyr in my own mind.  Then one day, like Earl (unfortunately it had nothing to do with winning the lottery), I saw the error of my ways.  Now I just want to be a better person.

The saying goes something like:  “man’s inhumanity to man.”  It is a true saying that has real impact in today’s world.  You do not have to be a serial killer to be inhumane.  I am going to try to be nicer to people who are serving me or giving me customer service.  I want to not get impatient with new workers who may not know everything yet.  I need to remember that everyone I meet today is going through something in their life and might just need some kindness to help them through.  My parents taught me manners and, although, I “forgot” them for a while, I still remember them.  I want to start using them daily and maybe make my little corner of the world a little bit better.  Who’s with me?!?!