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Renowned author Michael Herr is back guest-blogging on this awesome Aloha Friday about playing nice, acting nice and being nice... Make sure and check out Michael's website at http://www.michaelherr.com/ ALOHA FRIDAY December 2 It's Aloha Friday. "Play nice!" "Play nice." "Be nice now." "Act nice." Did you receive those admonitions when you were growing up? Were they difficult to understand? Personally, I had some trouble complying with them. Let's look at the first one. "Play nice." Why? Mostly the object of the games I played was to win. To demolish my opponent. To bring them to the ground. Dodge ball? Hit 'em low and knock their legs out from under them. Get them out of the game. But if you did that, they'd cry. And the teacher, if this was a supervised game, would sit you out. "Why?" "Because you weren't playing nice." Do professional athletes "play nice"? Just watch the tackles in football. Ouch! Maybe those engaging in golf are the ones who play nice? Sure they do. They're always saying things like, "Nice shot." But "Nice shot" is often followed with something like "Oh, bad luck!" or "Wow, that's gonna hurt." And in the clubhouse the losers pay for the beer. "Be nice," frequently accompanied with the added "Now", usually was exactly what you did not want to do. The obese cousin who had just stepped on your favorite toy, purposefully and especially if not observed by an adult, was now smirking at you. And you wanted to whack him with whatever sturdier toy was close to hand. But your mother, or worse your grandmother, was watching you with the eye of an eagle as she repeated that horrible phrase, "Be nice, now" over and over. You'd be nice now, but just wait until you and he were alone somewhere. "Act nice," was a request that was easier for me to fulfill. I could always act nice, usually for the time required of me by either my parents or my teacher. Though I must admit, acting nice from December 1 through December 25 in order to be sure that Santa Claus delivered my presents did present challenges. Especially if that obese cousin and his family came to visit during that time. When I got to college, I could never get over how nice some of my fellow students could act. It was a boys-only Catholic college and guys who I knew on the weekends drank themselves stupid (it didn't take much for some of them) and got into fist fights and who swore like sailors on shore leave after a year at sea. During the week those guys could talk so politely to the Brothers who taught us. They smiled and actually simpered at times, even when in the grip of a terrible hangover. Yep, they knew how to "Act nice". And acting nice got them good letters of recommendation, got them elected to office, and got them dates with some truly lovely women. Women who knew how to "Act nice", up until the time their date parked down some dark lane and talked them into climbing into the back seat of his car. Then they didn't act so nice at all. Or maybe they did. Just a different version of nice. So, here we are in December. Holiday parties, shopping in crowded stores, people in cars jockeying for those few available parking spaces. Shall we all try to "Be nice"? If not, then let's all "Act nice". Oh, me? Will I "Be nice"? It depends, am I going to get my way? If you give in to me on the road, in the store aisles, at the holiday party . . . well then, of course I'll be nice. Even if I'm just acting. Much aloha. |
http://www.michaelherr.com or order his new book "The Old Queen and the Maui Maiden" from www.lulu.com
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