How to be a Gentleman (or Lady)

For Christmas this year I received several books from my father. At first glance (I will be honest), they looked awfully boring. But being the bookworm that I am, I had to read at least a little bit before I could pass judgment.

Boy was I wrong.

The books in question are a series of small readings that give lessons on how to be more like a gentleman in your daily living. At first I thought, "Why would I need this? I don't go to fancy balls or dress in tuxedos." But soon I realized what these books were really trying to teach.

The back of the covers read,

"A gentleman is someone who makes others feel comfortable. Good manners is simply a matter of common sense and courtesy."

and,

"Being a gentleman means being there when you are needed and knowing when you are not needed. It means knowing what to say and knowing when to say nothing at all. Being a gentleman is about making the world a nicer place for other people."

Sounds a bit like our Humanifesto, don't it?

The titles of the books vary depending on what exactly your looking for, but include "How to be a Gentleman," "As a Gentleman Would Say," and "50 Things Every Young Gentleman Should Know."

I am currently reading the second from that list. As a Gentleman Would Say offers advice on how to respond or conduct oneself when speaking to another. Some of it's advice is common sense, such as:

"A gentleman never asks a woman if she is pregnant" and, "a gentleman never talks with his mouth full"

While some of the advice actually make you think, like:

"A gentleman takes no part in petty arguments over important topics. Instead, he takes action to bring about change."

And ladies, do not think that the gentlemen have forgotten you! They have the same exact line of books, but with "Lady" replacing "Gentleman" on the cover.

I love how the authors write these. They clearly explain that being a Gentleman (or Lady) does not mean being rich, snobby, well-to-do, etc. Rather, it means conducting oneself to bring about a positive change in everyone you meet.

If your interested, click around Amazon for the right Gentleman or Lady book for you.

Happy (Belated?) 2009!

-Spoon

SuperForest Redesigned!

Good Morning All!

You may have noticed that the layout of SF has changed recently.
This is actually for an interesting reason. Well, two interesting reasons:

The first is that visually it looks nicer to have more room for our posts to breathe, and the second is that the blogger template is set up so that you have lots of room on either side to sell advertising space.

Since we will NEVER have advertising on SF, that space has been recaptured for our sweet sweet content.

Fun, right? When I go to sites and blogs, there parts of the page I don't even bother looking at. The same goes for magazines and television.

We've gotten so good as a culture at tuning out the advertising, that traditional advertising is dying away. So, an interesting question is: "how then will goods and services be advertised?"

Like this, son!

Much love and hope you like the new look.

Jackson and Team SuperForest

Operation NICE

Good Friday Ya'll!

I just ran across a most excellent blog and immediately thought of SuperForest's Humanifesto.

So naturally, I have to post it.





Operation NICE is the name. It is filled with all kinds of great ideas on how to share your niceness with others.

But don't take my word for it, here is the first post of the blog, from creator Melissa Morris Ivone:

The other day I was waiting for an elevator in my building with one other gentleman. As the elevator arrived, I hesitated. I usually let others enter first, as a courtesy. But this gentleman held out his hand, motioning me to the door. As I walked through, he said with a chuckle, "You didn't really think I was going to walk in here first, did you?" I responded, "Well, I don't like to take anything for granted nowadays."

That one minor gesture brightened my day! I started to think, "What a great world this would be if everyone had consideration for others." It's a shame that that's not the case currently. It's obvious that common courtesy is lacking in society today. Just drive down a major highway and you'll see that.

What we all need is a little NICE.

Operation NICE encourages individuals to be proactively NICE. Stop by to read some positive, upbeat news stories (yes, they exist) about nice people. Download some tools (coming soon!) to help you in your quest to communicate the concept of niceness. Share a story or two about how someone made your day.

It is not true that nice guys finish last. Nice guys are winners before the game ever starts.
- Addison Walker

Beautifully put.



So do yourself a solid and check out Mrs. Melissa's awesome blog, and spread some nice this weekend!

Sincerely yours,

Spoon

The SuperForest Humanifesto

What is going to save the human race?

Please.
Thank you.

Three words that will totally change this planet.
More than solar power. More than recycling. More than wind energy.

Why?

Because if we all started treating the people and things that we interact with every day with respect and compassion, the effects would ripple through every aspect of our lives, transforming society.

Our parents taught us the manners “rule-sets” that we use every day, and as a result, we feel that we have (through years of introspection) begun walking the path towards enlightenment. Our manners dictate the way we treat the external world, the Environment. We feel that it is primarily our manners that dictate our success as humans.

Folks talk about wanting to save the “Environment”, and that conjures up images of bubbling brooks and unspoiled forests. But “the Environment” isn’t just greenery and pretty scenery. It’s our slums, our airports, our houses, our supermarkets.
The Environment is everything that disappears when you close your eyes.

If you want to improve it, you must begin with what you see and encounter every single day of your life.

Before we can set about elevating our present society from a carbon-based one to a solar-electric one, knowing full well that solar-electric decentralized power means a higher quality of life for all, we must first pause and ask ourselves: Why? What is worth saving?

Human Consciousness.

Our gift and curse as humans is our incredible consciousness. We are aware, and that is the greatest and worst thing we’ve got going for us. Because we can clearly see how well we could be living, how politely we could be treating one another, how incredible life could be; we feel it is our duty to delight and inform our fellow humans in the hopes of a better world.

There is no reason every human on Earth could not have access to:
Clean Water
Nutruitious Un-modified Food
Shelter
Education
Open Source Communication
Freedom from Oppression and Fascism

But, as is painfully obvious, most humans don’t have those things.
Most humans don’t have two of the six!

They could, but they don’t.

Why?

Bad Manners.

Nearly every religion this planet has yet produced has as one of its tenets the idea that to be happy, you must treat others as you yourself would hope to be treated.
A failure in this respect is simply bad form.

When a company decides to dump its waste into a river that others downstream use for drinking water, that is bad manners.

When a society chooses to isolate its citizenry in prisons and not offer any chance at rehabilitation, that is bad manners.

When a person decides to walk into a school and open fire on their classmates, that is extremely bad manners.

That is why we MUST START NOW.

All new generations must be schooled in the art of good manners if we are to survive, let alone flourish, as a species.

Try your hardest to treat others as you hope they would treat you, and actively look for ways to help the people around you. Do this from a pure place within you and watch the effects ripple outward!

Why?

Because so few are doing it.

Good manners make you stand out like a struck match in a dark room.

Three Essentials:

Make eye contact with anyone you interact with. Smiling is optional but highly encouraged.
Use the words “Please” and “Thank You” as often as you can.
Seek out ways to improve the lives of others. This can be as small as carrying someones bag up a flight of stairs, or holding a door open.

Do these three things and your life will change immeasurably. And you will begin to change the lives of those who come into contact with you in a measurable and positive way.

We are filled with optimism and hope.

Thank you for reading this.


Team SuperForest

Jackson, Niki, Andrew, Alex, Taylor, Jaell, Julius, April, Jordan, Spoon, Carla, & Iman