The words “be a nice human” seem like basic common sense to me. It’s not a difficult thing to do; in fact it’s probably a thousand times easier than it is to be a nasty human…
THE STORY
…Being nasty and cruel oftentimes requires plotting, scheming and even physical effort. Niceness really requires nothing other than kind words, good manners, patience and thoughtfulness. Is it possible to be nice all of the time? No, we all have our moments and moods and sometimes a raised voice is justified. But it is possible to be kind in general; to live our lives in a kind manner and treat one another with respect simply because we are all human beings.
The tee I’m wearing didn’t inspire this post. Two incidents that I witnessed firsthand within a day of each other did. The first was at a traffic light at a relatively busy intersection one day after work. All four directions were momentarily red, and this guy in the first vehicle of the left turning lane across from where I was stopped was gesticulating wildly in his rearview mirror. Suddenly he jumps out of his truck and bolts to the vehicle behind him. The older man in the second vehicle had rolled down his window, but wasn’t quick enough to roll it back up before the first guy reached inside and yanked his door open. He then proceeded to try and pull the man out of his car. By now the light has turned green, but absolutely no one moved…it’s like we were all frozen in this ugly moment.
I had my phone in my hand and was about to call 911, but the second guy pulled away from the angry dude, wrangled his door shut and got his window up. He got back in his truck and traffic started moving. Now I’ll admit, I have no idea what the whole context of the situation was. Perhaps the dude in the second vehicle was a raging serial killer a**hole…somehow I doubt it though. Sitting in the relative safety of my vehicle it was easy to pass judgement. My judgement was, “Seriously dude? Yanking some other human out of their vehicle in the middle of traffic was the best, most logical way to resolve whatever your issue was??”
The second situation was in front of Walmart. In this case I saw and heard pretty much the entire deal and all I can say is just “Wow.” A woman was leaving the store balancing a huge box on the top of her shopping cart. It was too big too fit inside so it was precariously perched on top. A second woman pushed past her and knocked the box off. She absolutely knew that she did it and kept right on going. The first woman loudly exclaimed, “Excuse me!” and the second one turned around and started shooting off her mouth. Ultimately she went back and perched the box back on the cart. Not nicely mind you, she slammed it, didn’t apologize and turned around and stomped off in a huff. (On a side note, I would have helped the woman, but I wasn’t close enough at that point…it all happened in a matter of seconds). The first woman loudly said “THANK YOU” and the second turned around and said, “I’m not saying you’re welcome to you b*tch”. Ummm…again, wow.
The people involved in both of these scenarios were in my age bracket so there’s no blaming the younger generation and their lack of manners and sense of entitlement, which seems to be a popular past time for older people. Anger and a lack of common human decency have become pervasive as of late. It’s like it is now publicly acceptable to be cruel. It spans all generations and in my mind it’s terrifying and tragic. Public displays of meanness have become commonplace since, and if you don’t like this feel free to move on elsewhere, a bully moved into the White House. Apparently if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for us.
Yes, there have always been and will always be mean people regardless of who is running the show in Washington. BUT there is no denying that in the last few years cruel people have been emboldened to behave in awful ways in public settings like we haven’t seen since some of our uglier periods in history.
I for one, am not willing to accept that it’s just the way it is now. We are better than that and we need to start acting like it. We need to make an effort every single day to be kind, to treat one another well despite our differences, and to think before we open our mouths. Each and every one of us needs to be a nice human and work to push the anger and the ugliness back into the shadows where it belongs. It’s never too late to be a nice human…
THE OUTFIT
Cozy cardigans and graphic tees are two things that I cannot resist; I have a rather healthy collection of both. I had wanted this particular graphic tee from Suburban Riot for Christmas and when Santa didn’t come through I picked it up for myself. Actually it’s probably a good thing that Santa missed it because after Christmas they had a 50% off sale so I picked up this tee and a “Good Vibes” tee for the price of one. Nordstrom also carries both the “Be A Nice Human” and the “Good Vibes” tee as well.
One requirement for my graphic tees is that they need to mean something to me. Whether it be a meaningful phrase like today’s tee, a band that I love and/or have seen in concert or a cause that matters to me, I like my tees to have meaning. Maybe this is weird, but I’ve seen music related graphic tees that I love (I’m talking to you David Bowie tee at Target), but I don’t get because I’m not really into the music. I think I would kind of feel like a poser if I wore it…I know, weird.
Chunky cozy cardigans…once the weather turns cold my love is big. I do however need to add more color to my cozy cardigan collection. I’ve been wearing this one on repeat all Winter and have it in both gray and oatmeal, but I’d love it in red or pink. For some reason I always tend to lean towards grays and cream colors. The cardigan that I’m wearing today skews somewhere between taupe and gray…it all depends on the lighting.
Big ol’ cardigans are something, that if I were a “rule” follower I’d probably avoid. They definitely aren’t the most flattering items in my wardrobe; especially on a tiny girl who’s busty and has broad shoulders like I do. Guess what though? I love them, I love how I feel in them, so I wear them…rules be damned.
I do however typically pair my chunky cardigans with something more form fitting on the bottom like leggings or skinny jeans like I did with this outfit. The over the knee boots (which I wear almost every day) serve to further streamline the look.
THE TIP
Chunky cozy cardigans and graphic tees both fall under my primary style belief…”fashion rules” are utterly meaningless. No matter what your age, if you want to wear a graphic tee then have at it; and no matter what your body type, if you love a chunky cardigan then wear it. Wear what makes you happy and rock on with your bad self.
THE LINK UPS
Check out the weekly link ups I participate in for even more fashion and style ideas…
Cardigan: Military Hippie (Similar); Tee: Suburban Riot; Tee (Plus Size): Nordstrom; Boots: Amazon; Jeans: Similar
