It always amazes me how people go through life without taking a second to think on how their actions impact others. Is it really so hard to think of others for 1% of your time? No wonder we feel that there are so few decent human beings around.
I'd like to propose a rule. It's called "5 goddamn seconds of thought. Guess what the rule is? Take 5 GODDAMN SECOND AND THINK before you do something that might affect other people.
I am not talking here about the grand scheme of things, about people who do bad stuff for some significant personal benefit. I am talking about people who do not respect others even if it does not inconvenience them in the slightest. There are people who I would assume never give a second's though of: hmm how can I make it so I don't be a jerk to my fellow man. At least I assume they don't, otherwise why would you do something shitty which does not benefit you at all? Seriously.
Beyond the big picture of corruption, theft, fraud and others, this is something the world has difficulty with. We need the commandment Though shalt NOT BE A JERK. This is something that cannot be legislated, but perhaps educated into people.
In Romania we have a saying: the first 7 years from home. School starts at 7 years old, and it is expected of children before that age to get a basic education from their parents, of how one acts in a society. And this is often missing. Asshole beget assholes.
A few examples of people who do not take 5 goddamn seconds in order not to be assholes to others.
I work in a R&D center in which the majority of people have masters degrees or PHDs. And yet, every day I enter a toilet stall to see the person before made a mess and did not take 5 goddamn seconds to use the toilet brush to clean after himself. This is not a public bathroom in the sens that tons of strangers use it. These people have no respect for their colleagues, people they work with for years.
In every country there are people who do not take 5 goddamn seconds to park their car straight on the spot. How is taking 2 spots in areas where it is difficult to park reasonable?
In the gym people do not take 5 goddamn seconds to move 20 goddamn centimeters to put the goddamn weights back in their place. How exactly would it inconvenience you to put the 20 kg disc in the 20 kg rack?
Before thinking of great questions of politics and morality, one should give a second thought to not being a jerk. Clean after yourself. Park the goddamn car on the goddamn spot. Put the goddamn weights in their place. Take 5 goddamn seconds to be a decent person. It is not that goddamn hard.