Please step away from yourself

Have you ever decided to take a look at who you are? Take a step back and see how you affect the world?

Now this could be something as monumental as offending major religious groups, (say if you're not covering your head in a Islamic mosque), or something simple like swearing in public, (especially around grandmother types).

So when you're out and about, do you:

- Eat with your mouth open?
- Talk with your mouth full?
- Use a napkin? Lick your fingers like a four year old?
- Notice people leaning away from you because you talk so loudly?
- Swear loudly and perhaps profusely?
- Do things to get attention from strangers? (Talking loudly about subjects that may interest people at another table.)
- Interrupt?
- Lie? Telling a group of friends that your Aunt had a stroke, just to get attention, may come back to bite you in the ass if she didn't have one. Let's be real here.
- Constantly remark that your story can top all others told that night?
- Repeat yourself? Repeat yourself?
- Degrade your spouse in front of others? (or at all for that matter?) You are trying to be in control, and let others know that you're the boss, when we all know that you're just a bully who is not fun to live with, and your spouse wants to divorce you, but is afraid to lose everything including the kids.
- Not really listen to other people because you're waiting with baited breath to tell your storey?
- Use really poor grammar?
- Tell people that 'Bob' thinks you're smart? That 'John' says that you're the best employee ever? That 'Stella' says that you're the best cook in the world? All in a 4 minute conversation?
- Dress so that your flab is overhanging your jeans? Show your ass crack or g-string when bending at a anything more than a 15* angle? Constantly show cleavage? Over make-up yourself to the point where you look like a clown?
- Think about what you're saying knowing that you may be conversing with intelligent people? (Guess what? If you constantly remark that you hate the colour blue, and then you ask if my new couch is blue - I know what you're getting at... you think I have bad taste... I'm pretty quick....)
- Talk badly or gossip about people that you know I'm friends with? (Possibly better friends than you are?)

I know that I'm not perfect, but I judge people by the way that they react to others in normal everyday situations.

If you have a cart full of groceries and don't let the person behind you go ahead in line, if they only have milk, eggs and bread, you are not aware of the others around you. You are impolite and perhaps self centered.

If you talk with your mouth full, smack your lips and lick your fingers in public, (or even at home for that matter) you weren't raised with any manners. It is unlikely that you will ever be invited to a really nice restaurant. Other people notice how rude and disgusting you are, and talk about it behind your back.

If you talk or swear loudly, show unnecessary body parts, you are looking, desperately for attention. If you were less offensive, you may have some friends that would pay attention to you...

If you tell people how great others think you are, you are bragging, and probably lying. You are fishing for compliments. If you don't hear the compliments, you will probably make them up. You also lie and exaggerate a lot. You lose friends and good people avoid you because you lie so much. You need people to think that you are great because you know that you are not a nice person. You are painful to be around, and nobody knows if you're being truthful.

In conclusion, if you think that any of the above mentioned points apply to you; do you care? Would you like to be more considerate and polite? Do you mind that you are labeled as rude and disgusting?

Things you do and say affect how people look at you. Here's my advice for you:

Listen
Put yourself in someone else's position
Look around, be a part of the world, don't just trample upon it