At the time of writing, Mother's Day is just around the corner. Though, if you ask anyone on any given day in the month of May, it tends to always be around the corner. It shouldn't though, because we should thank her as much as possible for putting up with many of us, but sometimes it's easier to share and discus what's the best thing they ever taught us.
Reddit user, u/giggglygirl, wanted to hear what your mom made you memorize when they asked:
What's the best advice your mom ever gave you?
Trust Your Gut. Seriously. Go With It.
If there's an uncomfortable feeling in your gut about a person, situation, or place, go with it. Listen to it and either protect yourself or gtfo.
Look In A Mirror Once In A While
Oh and also: "If you dislike someone for a character trait, make sure you don't have the same one. Things that annoy you in others, might be things you do yourself."
Never Not Mean It
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Something my grandfather told her, then she told me: "Hugs and handshakes, give them like you mean it"
Always Be Looking Ahead
"Happiness is just having something to look forward to."
You had your issues, mom, but this advice has served me well.
Again With The Mirrors. Must Mean Something.
"Look in the mirror and see if you see a friend in there.
If you don't, take a longer look and get the friend back."
Stop Taking It All So Seriously
My mom said "you young people get confused about dates, a date is just suppose to be a fun get together with someone, not meaning you're picking out life partners and deciding what house to buy. Just go out on a date, and have fun together, stop taking it so serious", this is one of the things i keep remembering when trying to go out on dates...(not that that happens that often).
You Are Not More Important Than They Are
In exasperation, my mom told me, "When you show up late, it tells people that you think your time is more important than theirs."
I used to be [chronically] late to nearly everything. And that statement just crushed me because I love my mom and my friends and would never purposely be disrespectful. I had just never looked at it that way before. I'm rarely late anymore and it's been amazing how something so seemly small has improved my relationships and has all around made my life better and less stressful than I could have expected. Wish Mom would have laid into me sooner.
And Then What Do We Always Do?
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"Don't touch that, it's too hot!"
I learnt that it was, indeed, too hot.
What I love about this childhood trope is that almost all of us touched it anyway
Guess it is hard for the danger version of the word 'hot' to have a real meaning without figuring it out yourself as well
It Only Happens To You Once
"You will never have to live this day again"- on my very first memorably bad day, coming home from school unable to stop sobbing.
I reuse it whenever trying to console someone after specific pains.
Everything Changes. Mostly You.
When I was a pre-teen she told me "as you get older you're going to think everyone around you is changing. It's not them that are changing, it's how you see the world that is changing"
I thought that was super weird advice, but as I got older and started to see adults for who they really were it really made sense. They weren't changing, I'd just never noticed that side of them before. I genuinely think it's why I wasn't a bratty teen, because I knew my parents were still the same parents, I was just seeing everything differently.
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@topherflorence captured highlights from the thread that received over three thousand retweets for its zaniness alone.
Can you follow?
The bread crumbs company endeavored to stir excitement for the brand by encouraging participation with the following tweet:
"Taking our first steps on the www!! tell us your favorite crouton recipes! #croutons #yum"
Harmless, right?
But somewhere along the way, the brand mixed business with politics. @religiousgames noticed that Carl's Croutons issued a one-word directive: vote.
The Twitter user asked, "What does it mean?"
Did the Carl's Croutons account manager get his social media account wires crossed? Possibly. But then we're not sure.
@topherflorence responded by saying, "lol that wasn't me i would posted something way dumber."
The following tweet from Carl's Croutons attempted damage control:
"Carl's Crutons [sic] regrets the inappropriate tweet from earlier and we sincerely apologize to the people of The Republic of Malta."
So how did Carl's Croutons insult the Republic of Malta?
@Bestorb shed some light on why the Southern European island country may have been insulted by sharing a YouTube clip of episode 1008, "Final Justice," from Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Did it have something to do with the country's dominant population of women?
The thread spun off in all different directions.
There were many takeaways from the esoteric thread, but the one directive really stood out.
There's still an unanswered question.
So who is Carl's Croutons anyway? Nobody knows. Just vote.
Facebook user Betsy Reyes busted her dog Princess who was out moonlighting as a stray in order to play on the sympathies of strangers. It seems Princess likes to wander off to her favorite hangout, the local McDonald's, and work the drive through lane like a pro.
And that's what she did right up until Reyes busted her scam. Reyes, who lives in Oklahoma City, took to Facebook and outed Princess in the most hysterical way, saying:
"If you see my dog @ the McDonald's on shields, quit feeding her fat ass bc she don't know how to act & be leaving the house all the time to go walking to McDonald's at night. She's not even a stray dog. She's just a gold diggin ass bitch that be acting like she's a stray so people will feel bad for her & feed her burgers."
Lots of scammers out there.
It's an adorable story, but maybe get the dog a collar with identification?
Not everyone thought the story was cute.
Of course, when a girl's gotta eat, a girl's gotta eat.
Let's hope Princess has learned her lesson and stays home.
H/T: Huffington Post, Mashable
Twitter user @Rich_Cooper stated:
"Dear feminists. You either get equality or chivalry. You can't have both."
One user responded:
"I'll take equality. I don't need special treatment."
Cooper's rhetorical question did not go over so well. Both women and men expressed their disdain for his message.
One male user observed that chivalry was irrelevant and treating everyone with kindness and respect was compulsory.
"What people care about is caring, empathic [sic], considerate, thoughtful people, NOT whether THEIR door is held for them or THEIR meal is paid for them."
"Are there gender stereotypes in het[erosexual] dating? Sure. But that's separate from being a warm, giving, caring, grounded person."
Some women got right down to the point.
The notion of chivalry and equality are mutually exclusive and not a lot of people thought it was a major priority for feminists.
Common courtesy is not chivalry.
This user pointed out the fact that chivalry stems from a history of men outdoing other men. The concept had very little to do with women.
"Chivalry is a medieval concept of men dressing to impress other men. It has little to do with equality."
"Some men were on top, other men were beneath them. Historically, women were rarely invited into the process."
Neil Bradley described the outdated concept of chivalry as one that implies men being superior to women in a September 8, 2017, article for Medium publications.
"Examples: opening the door for a woman, paying for a woman's meal, gesturing for a woman to go first. The justification is either that women are not physically as strong (to open the door), able to provide (pay for their own meal), or are more deserving of compassion than men (allowing women to go first)."
Bradley also added that he wants to treat others the way he wants to be treated and asked if that approach should be motivated by chivalry or equality.
"If the genders are to be considered equal and treated equally, how a man treats a woman will essentially be the same as how a man treats a man."
"The obligation to open the door, pay for the meal, and let women go first vanishes. Men do not do this to other men, therefore why do it for women?"
His final take was that the two concepts can't co-exist. Either one is chivalrous or treats everyone as equals.
At the end of the day, people were happy to show chivalry the door.
H/T - GettyImages, Twitter, Indy100, Medium