Cliche Your Life.

Treat others how you want to be treated.
Take responsibility for your actions.
Always do what's right, even if doing what's right is hard.
Be kind to everyone because you don't know what kind of battles they're fighting.
[Insert another wise cliche here]

All of these sayings are coined as cliches for a reason.  They are great rules of thumb for life, but that doesn't mean they are any less overused.  And when something becomes overused it loses its value.

The first listed, most commonly known as the "Golden Rule," is learned in Sunday School at the age of three.  I have heard this saying for most of my life, and while it is true, people should treat each other with the same love and respect they expect with which to be treated, I honestly don't know many people who actually live by this.  We try, yes, but inevitably, we treat others not with the respect we feel should be shown to us but with the respect we think the opposing party has earned or deserves.  And that's human nature, our race's fatal flaw.

Most people in my generation, myself included, don't take full responsibility for their actions.  In a lot of ways, we've been given almost everything on a silver platter, and because of that we don't worry about the consequences as much as we should.  Now, when it comes down to it, we take at least a little responsibility, but we often pawn the burden of the problem off on someone who is "more suited" to carry it.  And that's not okay.  Actions have consequences, and every person should be ready to face the consequences of his or her actions.  End of story.

Doing what's right even if it's hard?  How about we think about it and find an easy way out of being involved altogether?  Because that's what most people do.  Mostly, that involves not having an opinion on the subject to begin with, or shaping your own opinion to the most popular one.  And that last one is the one that kills me the most.  Think through things!  Don't let the greater population tell you what to think.  Figure out what you believe based your own values and morals, not society's.  And once you have that opinion, stick with it.  Don't let others tell you it's wrong because it's not.  It's just different.

Now, I realize that this entire post sounds extremely pessimistic, and truth be told, it kind of is.  But what I hope you take most from this is that these things, these cliches that have long been taught and ignored, shouldn't be happening this way.  People really should do their best every day to treat others with respect and kindness, and they should seriously think through the consequences of their actions and then take responsibility for them, and most of all, they should have opinions and thoughts and beliefs, even if those beliefs are entirely different from everyone around them.  Stick to your guns.  Put on a happy face.  Respect everyone.  Be prepared to fail, and all those other wise cliches.