A couple years ago me and the wife would watch the show on HBO Oz. For those who don’t know, it was a show based in a high security prison. Since it was HBO, they tried to be reality based by having much more violence and harsh language than what is typically found in prison. Go figure.

Once after watching the show, my wife asked me to get her a glass of water. Except she asked for “a f*cking glass of water.” She never cusses except in extreme distress, so her sitting there on the couch, reading a magazine, and cussing like that was kind of amazing. I asked her to repeat herself, and she did, just as colorfully. Several times. Only when I repeated it back to her did she realize what she said.

Now, she wasn’t even really watching the show, she was reading her magazine. Just being in the room like that, with so much cursing going on, affected her enough that her built in safeguards against harsh language failed.

So what does this mean?

Those of you that say things like violent video games don’t affect behavior are, in my opinion, full of it. Maybe not everyone is affected, but enough people are. But this isn’t my point either.

What you do affects other people.

This is the holiday season. Stress levels are high. So when you get all pissed off at someone taking too long to get in their car and pull out of that front parking spot, you’re making the people behind you trying to get out of the mall themselves mad. They’re going to get annoyed, and turn around and yell at their kids for being kids. The kids will internalize their anger and redirect it back later by pushing the parent’s buttons. No one can do that better, save maybe the spouse. Who is also annoyed and snippy now because everyone came home in a funk.

Or, you could just smile at people today. Especially people you don’t know. It may make their day just a little better for a few minutes. That just might be enough to turn everything all around.

Spreadin’ the word…  Third World Country, Bloggin’ Outloud, and Conservative Cat,

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