Sigh…. Can't we all just get along? I think its just that time of year again when everyone gets a little more tense and a little less understanding. It happens every year about this time… I remember last year… coming back from class and there being some people in my room when I REALLY wanted to be alone… and I had to do whatever I could to get out of my room, even though I had been gone to class that day for several hours. Instead of saying anything about it I just went for a long spring time walk… I felt better when I got back… On top of that, everyone seemed to not be getting along. Mainly this was Todd and Josh and because of my situation… brother to one, and roommate to the other… I couldn’t seem to just stay out of it. I remember a particularly nasty argument about Josh’s sense of payback when we were all three just going at it. After things cooled down I jokingly threw my hat at Josh and he didn’t really take it how I intended for him to take it and he sat on my hat. I kind of laughed for 5 or 6 seconds and then asked for my hat back…he wouldn’t give it back and finally (Todd was still there) after we all got into an even more heated argument about how it wasn’t fair for Josh to sit on my hat (I just didn’t want my hat to get all bent out of shape…) and him saying that his payback for my throwing my hat at him was fair… I got my hat back. It’s funny to look at because now, it seems so trivial and meaningless, but at the time I was just as angry as I could be. That was kind of the peak of what I like to call “the time in spring semester when everyone gets really angry” (for short). Now it seems it’s that time of year again, and luckily nobody has really gotten too angry at me because I do try my best to not provoke if I can help it. Having said that, I do notice several other of my close friends not getting along and I feel like I want to do something about it but I don’t know what because its not my fight. I just want to say that its really not that hard to get along with people on a day to day basis, and I think that we all just need to try a little harder to keep the peace around here because its just that time of year when the pressure of school and of living in close proximity with other people come to a head. Don’t worry about other people, just concentrate on yourself and make sure that you are having a positive attitude as much as is possible, and if you have problems, get them out. Talk to someone. If you ever feel bottled up or that you can't share some problem that you feel is really getting you down, you need to get that out. As crazy as it sounds, stuff like that will stay inside you and there is more than a good chance that it will end up coming out in other negative ways that you totally didn’t expect. When I say don’t worry about people, I mean you don’t have to fix other peoples problems. You can try to help them fix their own problems, but you can't do it for them. When you try to fix other peoples problems, it’s going to come across as you patronizing them or talking down to them, or telling them what to do. Offer your suggestions, let them know that you are there for them if they need you, and other than that, let them live their own lives. Also, watch what you say and how you say it. How you say something can have a bigger effect than what it was that you actually said. We all know that, but it seems like a lot of us forget sometimes. If you write 10 pages to someone, and two or three of those sentences contain a hurtful, rude, or unnecessarily mean message, which part do you think the recipient is going to see in bold whether you meant it that way or not? Which part of those 10 pages will become the main idea or focus to the reader regardless of the main idea or focus intended? It takes SO LITTLE to do some serious damage to a relationship, and lots of times this happens because we just aren't thinking about how other people will perceive what we say. Contain yourself when you are under the influence of anger, if you can't get control of your anger… leave until you do. When you know you have hurt someone, and you are sorry… don’t waste time telling them. If you have done harm to a relationship and you know it was your fault, it does you no good to just sit around and hope they will say something that might open a door to make it easier for you to apologize… take that initiative yourself… it does make a difference. Which one means more…”I’m sorry” or the same statement AFTER someone has asked you if you are sorry?
From Ephesians chapter 4:
26. …let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
31. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

A lot of this may seem simple… but it is much easier said than done when your pride is on the line. Life is too short for us not to all love each other (group hug). Ok I feel better.
Thanks for reading….
Scott