Those of you who know me well understand that while I’m a patient man, I’m not always very tolerant when people don’t do things right. Naturally, my own definition of “right” is correct. People do things all the time that get my panties in a bunch: coworkers who spend much of their time away from their desk instead of answering their phones, people who let their cats and dogs run around loose in our neighborhood, smokers, litterers, televangelists, people who choose not to live within their means, people who don’t make their children or pets behave, drivers who speed, people who leave their shopping carts in the parking lot, etc. I would love to be able to “fix” all of these OBVIOUSLY deficient people and make the world a better place. But I’ve finally realized (and partially accepted) that it is neither my right nor responsibility to mold everyone on earth into my own image. In fact, the world is actually much better off NOT being filled with 6 billion Andy Boxes running around. (Ever see Being John Malkovich?) In many cases, my opinion isn’t the only right one. Sometimes it’s actually wrong! In this fresh new year of 2007, one of my goals is to be more tolerant of other people – their opinions, their choices (right or wrong), and their strengths and weaknesses. I want to just roll with it a little better. A wise man named Reinhold Niebuhr (?) once wrote a prayer called the Serenity Prayer that we could all learn something from:

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.”