TOW#561 — We should…!
The word ‘should’ should be taken out of our dictionary!
Rubbish should be cleaned!
Potholes should be fixed!
The economic situation should be improved!
We should invest in sports and culture!
There should be more trees, greenery and parks!
We should coexist!
The rights of the vulnerable should be improved!
I should start a diet!
I should practice!
You should be nice to the elderly!
People should respect each other!
Tourism should be developed!
The public administration should be improved!
I should do things better!
Start-ups should be stimulated!
The education system should be improved!
Young people should get better career guidance!
The other, smaller cities in MK should be developed as well!
Service should be better in restaurants!
We should improve our general manners!
This should get done, that should get done!
(I got some of these points from my colleagues, who also have a lot of experience in knowing everything which ‘should’ get done).
We all get into discussions with friends, co-workers or colleagues, and especially with friends in a bar after the third rakija, and bang on about all the things which ‘should’ be done. Seen from our own point of view, or from the point of view of companies/firms, employees, managers, the state, the government, mayors, schools, etc, etc.
We all know how thing should be. We all have our own opinion and attitude on how to make things better or how to change something that will lead to better results. This is especially true for those conversations that take place in bars after the third drink. But even though we all talk, shout, outwit one another and pretend to be smart, in the end basically nothing happens or changes. The only thing we gain from those debates is to fill our egos, if we manage to outwit the others with a more ingenious idea of how things ‘should’ be.
We must or should understand that we need to eliminate all sentences that include ‘should’ from our conversations. We all know what should be done and how it should be done, yet nobody does anything about it. What I’ve learnt from my own experience is that if you don’t do something yourself, nobody else is going to do it for you. Also, don’t ask others to do it. If you want to change something, get involved and do it yourself. If the state, government, your neighbour, manager, friend or anyone else responsible actually does that thing that should be done, great(!), but if they don’t, do it yourself. Whatever you can, and as much as you can!
My friends regularly comment on the work of our politicians and all the political structures that we’ve had since the establishment of our little country, constantly criticising their actions and policies. But I always say to them, if you don’t like it, why didn’t you get into politics and show us all how it should(‘ve) be(en) done?
Let’s stop with all the philosophising and get down to work. An Iraqi colleague who lives here in MK once told me: You have a beautiful country that has a lot to offer, but it also needs a lot of work. But you can’t wait for someone else to do it for you, you have to change things individually or as a collective.
Use the word ‘should’ as little as possible, and instead say “I did this or that and thus did something to improve the general situation in the country.”
Wishing you success with the changes to come,
Petar Lazarov
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