Thread by @funkybrownchick

I don't know who needs to hear this, but I'm gonna get real Midwestern on your asses and say this: "Be a good person." ❤️ Give credit where credit is due. Respect women, Black and brown people, and everyone else. Don't be an asshole. medium.com/@nandoodles/im…

Follow those rules and you'll probably get far in life. People tend to like people they actually respect.

Oh, and: Tell people about themselves. When people mistreat people CALL. THEM. OUT.

Pro tips / #HealthyRelationships advice:
✅ Establish boundaries.
✅ Know you deserve respect.
✅ Leave people & environments where you, your ideas, and/or people who look like you are unwelcome or unsafe.

There's usually a grooming process — people rarely show you their whole entire asshole really early on in any relationship. They just give you a peek. When that happens, find ways to say: "You are showing me your asshole right now, and this isn't right."

Here's the thing .... Sometimes people fuck up. We all do. Hell, *I* do. When / if that happens, you want to do what sexual health educators call the "oops" and "ouch" exercise.

Here's what I mean by that. Whenever someone hurts your feelings and/or fucks up in your eyes, tell them. This is the "OUCH". Ideally, their response is "OOPS!"

Since people understand physically examples more than emotion ones, here's what that looks like visually. Someone accidentally steps on your toe. You say: "OUCH!" They respond: "OOPS!" (And, ideally, "I'm sorry.")

Different scenario? They step on your toe You you say: "OUCH!". They respond by simply doing it again. Well, they're being an asshole and you have some decisions to make.

I don't know either of these two people in the article, so this isn't about them — nor any other specific situation. I just see this place out in life time & time again: dating, marriages, families, people at work, etc.

Too often, people passively stay quiet as others do shitty things. Nope. Speak up, call 'em out. But, the onus shouldn't rest exclusively with people being wronged. Folks observing wrongdoings need to speak up, too. And, of course, folks doing wrongs need to knock that shit off.

Expect the best. Always. Let's all hold each other accountable for being our better selves.