The Three C's

One of my past jobs included a supervisory position that had me hire, interact and manage staff. Because of various circumstances surrounding me at the time, my job was, you could say, made difficult. But I tried to make things work and I think for the most part did a pretty good job. I had things well organized and planned out, I kept communication lines open to the best of my ability, information on policies and procedures were made available whenever or where ever needed.
Making sure things run smoothly are not just part of my strong work ethic, but an application I apply, or try to apply, to all things in my life. I believe that if you just take the time and think things through before reacting, get all the information needed to take the proper steps, you can avoid any undo-hardships and stress. Problems may, and on the occasion will, still occur, not turning out like you'd hope, but you'll still be breathing.

Anyway, one of the things I did was to create a bulletin board for the main office (a fair sized one) to hold key information on various things, events, news, etc.... Notices could be put up or taken down whenever appropriate. One poster though, on 11 x 14 inch paper and laminated, remained up always. It was there for myself and all staff to look at everyday, a reminder, and a poster I think maybe all of us should mentally carry in our minds...... 'cause it applies to everything. That poster was titled "The Three C's."
The Three C's are Caring, Courtesy and Common Sense.

Every single person I meet for the the first time automatically receives the benefit of the doubt. Call it being naive or whatever you wish, but I see the good, or want to see the good, in all people. However, I am a cautious person, (another great C word) and whether it happens quickly or gradually I come to the conclusion that the Three C's are just not quite there. Because of my optimistic nature though, I do believe the majority of us carry those C's, only they tend to get buried down deep, tucked away, and for some reason they don't often surface, if at all.
I tend to think that there are three things that get in the way of our Three C's. (Curious play on numbers) One of those things would be laziness; Caring for something that you are doing or for someone who may not fully understand can take up a lot of energy. Then there is the fact that everything and everyone seems to be in a rush; almost always. Things need to done, we need to be places, and the need to do it can mean pushing Common Sense out of the way. Most often Common Sense goes hand in hand with a little thing called patience. Finally, the one I like the least but see every so often, is selfishness, it can be pretty easy to only want to do what's needed for for yourself than extend a simple Courtesy to someone else.

As I said above, I believe the Three C's are within us all. And it is in my opinion that if we pushed some of those other things to the side and allowed our C's to re-surface, we might just find that life is a whole lot more comfortable and easier than we realized. Caring, Courtesy and Common Sense; think about it.