Day #58: That's Not My Problem

Even before I began the "nice" project, one particular phrase always drove me nuts.

"That's not my problem."

Do you ever notice that people only say this when they want to be freed from having any moral responsibility to do something they should do yet don't just want to come out and say "I'm a douchebag?"

Yeah, that's been my experience.

If there's one phrase we could eradicate to make the world a little bit nicer, I think it would be "That's not my problem."

After all, it's become an escape hatch.

Every time I say I'm for healthcare because I believe that we shouldn't live in a country where anybody dies because they can't afford treatment, I have someone counter with--

"What about the people who smoke and drink and eat too much?"

To which I counter with--"What about kids who die from cancer?"

Now, perhaps I shouldn't pull the cancer card, but it's not really a "card" when it's, you know, actually true.

The response I get back is usually "That's sad, but it's not my problem."

In America, we talk all the time about needing a cultural shift.

Maybe what we really need is a morality shift. Maybe we need to start saying that our problems are the only ones we can handle, and realize that when you help others with their problems your own will either seem less dire or take care of themselves as a result of good karma.

Maybe so many people in this country have trouble being nice because they're left alone with their problems for too long.

"That's not my problem."

The truth is I like the communal way of looking at things. One person's problem is everyone's problem.

And at the moment, my problem is I'm fifty-eight days into being nice and I still don't feel any "nicer."

Here's looking at you, Day #59.