My Two Cents

Has anyone ever given you their two cents? You know, their opinion. Sometimes it’s welcome and sometimes not so welcome. I read that the phrase “my two cents” came from the phrase “a penny for your thoughts.” If you ask someone what they think about something, you may say, “a penny for your thoughts,” and if they give you a bit more than you bargained for, then it becomes their “two cents.”

So on this here blog of mine I am going to start giving my two cents on a variety of topics that I choose. In particular, my audience will be my kids–Ruby, Molly and Mack. I have weird thoughts from time to time about me dying and not being able to tell them all the things I want to tell them. Morbid? Maybe. But the fact is, I don’t know when I may die. And neither do you. And I know God will take care of them and provide people in their lives to tell them important things. But while I am here, they need my two cents. Some topics will be light-hearted and maybe some will be deep. We shall see…..

But for the first topic, let’s keep it simple and practical. This one is about manners and politeness. Ready for it?

Sidewalk Etiquette
I know. Serious business.
But really, I value proper sidewalk etiquette. Whether in my neighborhood or in an other country, I am aware of those around me when I am walking. When I am alone, it’s usually simple to be polite. The tricky part comes when someone is walking with you, right by your side. Josh and I walk this way often. And just last week we were in another country on a walk on a sidewalk and encountered rude people all along the way, which inspired this post. I want my kids to know proper sidewalk etiquette.

If the sidewalk is wide enough for two people to walk down, which most are, then you can walk together with your walking partner side-by-side. However, if another couple is walking towards you, then it only stands to reason that one person of EACH couple should file behind their walking partner so that everyone still walks on the sidewalk and has room to walk.

You may think this a no-brainier and may even wonder why I would take time to write on this, but trust me when I say not many people follow this etiquette. It’s a little frustrating. They just walk right towards you and don’t change their position whatsoever. It’s like they don’t even see you there even though you know they do. They simply don’t want to be inconvenienced.
Josh and I laugh about it as we watch this happen over and over, and we decided that we must be quite prideful and maybe God uses the inconsiderateness of others to remind us that we aren’t as special as we think we are.

But when someone exercises proper sidewalk etiquette, I smile and say hello and cheer inside that, indeed, there are other people in the world who know and understand the importance of it!

So, there you have it, my two cents on sidewalk etiquette.
Important stuff, people.