It was quite eye-opening to go through the list and see the things that I do not do in my life, but that I should work harder to. Number 9 is the golden rule of treating others how you wish to be treated yourself. In face-to-face contact I definitely abide by this rule, but when I am engaging in a guilty pleasure of gossiping, I am most definitely going against this rule. In my defense, I do not engage in as harmful talks as others I know do, but I surely need to work on speaking only positively of others. Even if someone has wronged me or made me upset, what am I really going to gain from griping about it?
Being a stranger to the world's ways, à la #20, would seem to be not only not helpful, but actually a disadvantage in this day and age. So much of our daily lives revolves around knowing what is happening in the world. One needs to be educated about other cultures so they do not offend and can understand customs different than their own. One needs to know basics of world goings on so that one can make an informed decision when time comes to vote. Now that I am 20 years old, I should retire my ways of voting for local officeholders by whoever has the coolest/most unusual name. Yes, I admitted it and you should too. I mean, who really knows about who they are voting for to be on the board of education?
Number 27: Not to swear. Need I say more?
"But to recognize always that evil is one's own doing, and to impute it to oneself." This is one of the rules that I actually do follow in my daily life and I must admit that I have a problem with it. I seem to follow this rule too closely, and it is at a cost, I must say. First off, in most cases, not everything bad that happens to someone is his/her fault. Certainly that's the case with me. However, I do not recognize that bad things happen to me because of other people or just a random act of fate. I place so much blame on myself that I suffer undue amounts of stress-stress that I would not wish on anyone else. Therefore, I think that St. Benedict would benefit from switching this rule up a bit to account for random happenings and error of others. People can't go around beating themselves up for every little thing that goes wrong in their day! There would simply be no time for any enjoyment in life.
To wrap things up, I would say that St. Benedict would excommunicate me from his little monastery. Well, that is if I even chose to go there in the first place. Which I wouldn't. Brown wool cloaks don't really tickle my fancy.
