Please Throw Away the Candy Wrappers

Daily Prompt: Never Gonna Give You Up

You. We know *you* are vice-free, dear Daily Post reader. But others around you and in your life are riddled with vices: they smoke; they eat too much celery; they hog the covers; they can’t keep their hands out of the office candy bowl. Which vice or bad habit can you simply not abide in others?  Photographers, artists, poets: show us VICE.

Yesterday I spent a huge amount of time unwrapping peanut-butter cups and jolly ranchers for a program coming up that has a snack for 150 people afterwards.  Foolish, I know, when I have so much other stuff that I could be doing with my time.  BUT, I absolutely cannot abide seeing crumpled candy wrappers scattered all over the place.

Time and time again, the guests leave; and scattered cups and candy wrappers are left behind as if a tornado just came through and disrupted the orderliness of life.

So, this time, I am going to save my after-party cleaning time and keep myself from high blood-pressure levels by eliminating the possibility of candy wrappers.
I know, it is not a huge issue; but yet it is.

Responsibility is a major thing that is lacking in today’s society.  Have you ever tried to plan an event and ended up pulling out your hair because 75% of the invites never RSVP back?  Have you ever seen the mess that people leave behind after a meal?  Very few look ahead or think of more than themselves.
I think this is one of my biggest pet peeves.  I was taught to throw away my trash when I was at another person’s place.  I was told that you do the dishes for the hostess because she worked hard to prepare the party.  I was drilled in the fact that you leave a place nicer than you found it.  I have learned that it is extremely helpful to reply back within the deadline and confirm whether or not you are going to an event.  So, this irritates me when other people do not live up to this even though I do.

However, I need to be forgiving- because there is always going to be something that I do that drives the ones around me crazy.  I need to be careful that I don’t destroy my friendships because of my criticalness (sorry, that is not actually a word), and realize that we’re even- because maybe the way I squeeze the toothpaste or fold the towels gets on their nerves.  So until I am perfect (which will not be until I reach Heaven), I can not “point out the spot in my friend’s eye when I have major obstacles in my own”!

It is all about working together and learning from each other.  I need to be able to take criticism and change in myself what irritates others, I need to be able to be patient with those habits in others that annoy me, and I need to love no matter what.  Love and Patience are the keys to overlooking and forgiving the faults (like abandoned candy wrappers) that can grow into huge obstacles and destroy relationships!