Savage Words: I think I might know the secret to a happy life

It’s tough turning on the television these days.

It’s bad enough that we’re yelling at each other every day. I swear, nobody hates Americans quite like Americans. That’s frustrating enough, but what’s happening around the globe is more than frustrating, it’s gut-wrenching.

I don’t claim to understand the intricacies of what’s going on in the Gaza Strip. I couldn’t begin to understand what’s happening over there. I do know that it seems like they’ve been fighting in that part of the world forever.

When I turn on the TV and see children wailing, screaming, begging for help with nothing but rubble behind them that used to be their neighborhood, it’s gotta pull at you. It has to.

I see the same thing with what’s going on in Russia and Ukraine. Again, I can’t begin to pretend to understand everything that’s happening in that part of the world. But when I see moms and dads carrying their children to their graves, it pulls at me. It has to.

I don’t have the answers, and I don’t pretend to. But everytime I see these disturbing images come into my living room, I always go back to the simplest message I know, and it’s something I’ve shared with my daughter since the time she could speak.

I think I know the answer to a happy life: Just Be Nice. 

No matter the situation, Just Be Nice. 

I’ve drilled that message into my daughter’s head. Now a freshman in college, I’m not entirely certain it’s served her well over the years, but I have to believe it has. 

When I look back, I know there have been times when she was too nice. I want her to Just Be Nice, but at the same time, I don’t want her to take any crap or get pushed around either. I suppose that’s a delicate balance for everyone, for every situation.

I recall dropping my daughter off at school one day in the second grade, and she stood at the entrance, holding the door open for everyone to enter. She stood there with that damn door for five minutes while kids just continued to stream in.

That night, I asked her why she did it.

“Just being nice,” she said.

In the eighth grade while helping her with some homework, I noticed on the front of her notebook that she wrote, “The Key to a Happy Life: Just Be Nice.”

That was a proud dad moment. In fact, if you were to walk up to her right now and ask her what’s the secret to a happy life, I’m more than confident she’ll reply with, “Just Be Nice.”

However, one time in the third grade at a Parent/Teacher conference, I was bragging to her teacher about the “Just be Nice” comment. Isabella was in the next room, but I told her teacher to ask her what the secret is to a happy life when she returned.

On que, the teacher asked.

“Coffee?” Isabella said, almost like a question with an inquisitive look on her face.

Well, that too, and I couldn’t argue with her with that answer.

I’m not naive enough to think “Just be Nice” is going to solve what’s going on in the Gaza Strip, or Russia or Ukraine.

But I have to imagine that it wouldn’t hurt…for all of us.