Why do we care?

You know what I say to myself a lot? Why do I care?

I know that sounds like I'm trying to conjure up some deep powerful meaning but you would be wrong. I'm trying to figure why I care so much about what people do. Why does it matter to me if someone lives their lives differently than me? Basically, why do I feel like I need to have an opinion on something and say it?

Why do we as a society think we can tell people what they should or shouldn’t be doing? It’s something that I have been trying to figure out about myself.

My mom has a lot of opinions. Some are good. I think she can definitely make a valid point. Most are not wanted. I mean that in the nicest way. Most opinions given by anyone, are not wanted. That’s why I've been keeping my mouth shut. I've been following the age old rule, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

Its made my world, quite happy. Once I ask myself, why do I care? The feeling of caring about whatever it is I'm hyped about, goes away. I usually think, ok that’s silly that I would think I need to tell a random stranger that they're doing something wrong. Guess what the outcome is going to be if I do tell my unwanted opinion. I cant predict the future, but I can probably safely assume that 99% of the time, its not good.

I'm going to keep asking myself, why do I care? Why do you care? Why do we as a society think we have a right to say something. I need to learn to respect the choices of others. Unless it is directly affecting me, I'm going to try really hard not to worry about it.

For example, drunk driving. I think we can all agree that drunk driving is hands down one of the stupidest things you can do. Your choice can easily change the lives of others besides yourself in an instant. People that you know nothing about, but again, dramatically alter lives. I think we can all say that we are against drunk driving. So having an opinion against drunk driving should be shouted from the rooftops.

We all have opinions about things, but we don’t have to vocalize them. One hot topic, is frosting on cakes. Some are for, some are against. If you don’t like it, don’t eat it. If you like it, get the corner piece that has extra frosting. If you don’t like it, you really don’t have to tell the people who love frosting that you don’t like it. You don’t have to tell them that you think it’s gross. Guess what you have to do. Nothing. Scrape the frosting off and keep eating. Guess what frosting people have to do? Nothing. They don’t need to shame others into feeling like they’re missing out. We all just eat cake and live our lives a little happier, because we've had cake dammit!

The really cool thing. If a frosting eater eats all of the frosting, guess who's thighs it sticks too? Theirs! You have nothing to worry about. Anti-frosts, luckily, no one is shoving frosting down your gullets so no harm, no foul.

This analogy can apply to any topic. I am going to try and think of this, and ask myself why do I care? Why does it matter to me? If its life threatening, ok maybe I'll say something. If not, take a deep breath and ask why do I care? Is it really harming me? Do I really care if they decide to have two slices? No.

I’m going to start a new motto, “If death is knocking at your door… then say it. Otherwise, shut it.” Catchy, huh?